french-english-arabic code-mixing among french minors at
TRANSCRIPT
I
Faculty of Graduate Studies
English Department
French-English-Arabic Code-Mixing among French Minors at Hebron
University
By
Dua'a Abdel Ra'ouf Mohammad Abuzeinah
Supervised by
Professor Ahmad Atawneh
This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, Faculty of Graduate Studies &
Academic Research, Hebron University
2017
Hebron University
Faculty of Graduate Studies
English Department
French-English-Arabic Code-Mixing among French Minors at Hebron
University
By
Dua'a Abdel Ra'ouf Mohammad Abuzeinah
This thesis was successfully defended on March 8th
2017 and approved by:
Prof. Ahmad Atawneh
Dr. Mahmoud Itmeizeh
Dr. Brahim Melouki
Committee members
Dedication
This work is dedicated to my father and my mother who have always been the happiest
for my success I achieve. It is also dedicated to my husband for his continuous
encouragement, and to my sisters and brothers for their constant support. Moreover, I want
to thank my mother in law and my sister in law for their daily and continuous support.
Finally, this work is dedicated to my lovely son ''BARAA'' who provides me with the spirit
of my life.
Acknowledgments
I would like to offer special thanks to my supervisor, Professor Ahmad Atawneh
for his valuable suggestions during the planning and development of this research. I greatly
appreciate the time that he generously devoted for guidance and advice throughout the
process of conducting and writing this research.
My gratitude also goes to all faculty members of the English Department at Hebron
University for their enlightening and constant support and cooperation, in particular Dr
Raghad Dweik and Dr Brahim Melouki.
I am particularly grateful for the cooperation offered by the French members at
H.U, especially, Dr Brahim Melouki and Miss Nadia Awad for their continuous
cooperation and giving me permission to attend the French classes during the whole
semester and also in conducting the questionnaire.
Extended thanks should go to the French minors au H.U who participated in the
study and provided me with important data on Code-Mixing without which this research
would not have been possible.
Finally, I wish to thank all my family and my husband and his family for their
support and encouragement.
Table of Content
Dedication………………………………………………………………………….……….I
Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………II
Table of contents……………………………………………………………………….…III
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………...………VI
Arabic Abstract………………………………………………………………………….VII
Definitions of Key Terms……………………………………………….……….……..VIII
List of Tables ……………………………………………………………..……..……….IX
Chapter One……….. ......................................................................................................... ..1
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….…..………1
1.1 Code- Switching & Code-Mixing in the Palestinian Context .................................. ..2
1.2 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... ..3
1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Study ..................................................................... ..4
1.4 Research Questions .................................................................................................. ..4
1.5 Hypothesis and Objectives ...................................................................................... ..4
1.6 Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................... ..4
1.7 Definitions of Terms ................................................................................................ ..5
Chapter Tow : Literature Review…………………………………….…………………..6
2.1 Historical Background about English and French………………………………………6
2.2 Status of French Language among other Languages in Palestine……………….……...8
2.2.1 Arabic……………………………………………………………………………...….8
2.2.2 English……………………………………………………………………...…………8
2.2.3 Hebrew…………………………………………………………………………..……8
2.2.4 French…………………………………………………………………………..…….9
2.3 Code-Mixing and Code-Switching……………………………………...………………9
2.4 Reasons and Motivations of Code-Switching and Code-Mixing……………………...10
2.5 Types of Code-Switching and Code-Mixing ................................................................. 11
2.6 Review of CM studies in Relation to their Methodologies ………………………… .. 12
Chapter Three : Methodology …………………………………………………………..24
3.1 Subjects .......................................................................................................................... 24
3.2 Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 24
3.2.1 Observation ................................................................................................................ 24
3.2.2 Semi- Structured Interview ........................................................................................ 25
3.2.3 A questionnaire ......................................................................................................... 28
Chapter Four : Results and Analysis ………..………………………………………….30
4.1 Syntactic Categorization ................................................................................................ 30
4.2 Discussion of the Categorization of Parts of Speech ..................................................... 33
4.2.1 Question One: What Kinds of Contexts Allows for Mixing?..................................33
4.3 Discussion of the Reasons of Code-Mixing inside the Classroom ................................ 35
4.3.1 Questions Two: Why Do Learners Mix?..............................................................35
4.3.2 Lack of Vocabulary………………………………………………………………….37
4.3.3 Linguistic Insecurity………………………………………………………..………..39
4.3.4 No Equivalence of some English or Arabic Expressions in French…………..……..40
4.3.5 Similarity of Spelling……………………………………………………….…...…..41
4.4 Additional Results of the Questionnaire………….……………………………….….43
4.5 Additional Outcomes of the Interviews…………………..……………………………46
4.6 Universal Constraints .................................................................................................... 46
4.6.1 The size of the Constituent Constraint…………………………..……………..........47
4.6.2 The Conjunction and Complementizer Constraint…………………………………..48
4.6.3 The Adjectival Phrase Constraint…………………..…………………..………….50
4.6.4 The Clitic Pronoun Object Constraint…………………..…………….…………....51
4.6.5 The Free Morpheme Constraint……………………………………………………52
4.6.6 The Equivalence Constraint…………………………..……………………………53
4.6.7 The Dual Structure Principle……………………………………………...…..……..53
Chapter Five : Conclusion…………...…………………………………………………..56
References…………………………………………………………...……………………59
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..64
Appendix A: Questionnaire in Arabic…… ......................................................................... 64
Appendix B: Questionnaire in English ................................................................................ 66
Appendix C: Questions of Interviews ……….…………………………………..………68
Appendix D: IPA Symbols Used for the Transliteration of the Code-Mixing Instances of
the 61 French Minors at H.U ………...………………………….…..…………….………69
Appendix E: Phonetic Symbols for English …………..………….....…………………….70
Appendix F: Code-Mixing Instances of the 61 French Minors at H.U…………………...72
Appendix G: Transcription Conventions of Interviewees…………………...…………….76
Appendix H: Answers of Interviews……………………………………………………....78
Abstract
Code-Mixing is a linguistic phenomenon by which speakers use utterances of other
languages within the same sentence, and it is common in EFL and FFL contexts.
Researchers have identified many communicative functions and motives explaining why
people mix languages during their speech. In Palestine, French is a second foreign
language taught in some public and private schools. Learners of French code-mix English
and Arabic in their interactions. In this study, the functions and motives of code-mixing of
Palestinian French minors' at H.U were investigated. However, the reasons for their code-
mixing and the application of the universal constraints were also examined. The research
design has qualitative and quantitative methods. The observation was made to 61 French
minors ages between 20 and 24 over a period of four months. Their interactions during
French sessions were observed and the code-mixing instances were recorded. The
instances were categorized according to their frequency, and then they were analyzed.
Subjects filled the questionnaire that inquired about the functions and motives of their
code-mixing. The results showed that the French minors at H.U had reasons and motives
behind their code-mixing like compensating for the lack of vocabulary items, expressing
feelings and habitual use, discussing Western societies, responding to a French or an
English utterance, and finally, showing knowledge of technology.
It is recommended to have more detailed analysis of a larger study including
French majors instead of minors.
Arabic Abstract
ممخص الدراسة
وىي شائعة في السياق ،المغوي ىو ظاىرة يستخدم خلاليا المتخاطبون أكثر من لغة واحدة في نفس العبارة خمطال
الاجتماعي الذي تكون فيو المغة الانجميزية أو الفرنسية لغات أجنبية ثانية أو ثالثة. وقد قام الباحثون بتحديد دوافع
المغة الفرنسية ىي المغة تعتبر أخرى. ووظائف تفاعمية عديدة تفسر قيام المتخاطبين بالتحويل من لغة إلى
طلاب المغة الفرنسية في أنلاحظت الباحثة .س في بعض المدارس الحكومية أو الخاصةالأجنبية الثانية التي تدر
المغة الانجميزية أو المغة العربية خلال محادثاتيم بالمغة الفرنسية داخل الصف. لذا فان ىذه يخمطونجامعة الخميل
الأسباب التي أدت بيؤلاء وبحثت أيضاالمغوي ليؤلاء الطلاب. خمطالدراسة بحثت في الدوافع والوظائف المتعمقة بال
استخدم الباحث المغوي. خمطوقامت بتطبيقيم عمى المعايير الدولية الخاصة بظاىرة ال خمط لغات اخرى،الطلاب ل
طالب وطالبة لغة فرنسية تخصص فرعي لغة 16أجريت الدراسة عمى (:النوعي والكمي) تصميم البحث المختمط
المغوي عندىم. خمطعاما. كما قاموا بتعبئة استبانو عن دوافع ووظائف ال 02الى 02فرنسية تتراوح أعمارىم من
التعويض عن النقص في ثلعدة دوافع ووظائف م المغوي عند ىؤلاء الطلاب لوخمط وقد أظيرت النتائج أن ال
قشة المجتمعات الغربية المفردات والتعبير عن المشاعر والممارسة الاعتيادية. ومن الدوافع والوظائف الأخرى : منا
مباىاة الإظيار المعرفة بأمور التكنولوجيا. وأخيرا بالإضافة إلى الفرنسية أووالرد عمى كلام قيل بالمغة الانجميزية
وبناء عميو، فقد أوصت الباحثة بإجراء دراسة عند ىؤلاء الطلاب. المغوي خمطإضافي لم في معرفة المغات ىي دافع
اكبر من الطلاب الذين يدرسون المغة الفرنسية في الجامعات الفمسطينية كتخصص رئيسي بدلا تحميمية مفصمة لعدد
من إجرائيا عمى الطلاب الذين يدرسونيا كتخصص فرعي لتخصصات رئيسية أخرى.
Definitions of Key Terms
- Bilingual is a person who is fluent in two languages.
- Code-Mixing takes place inside the sentence or the clause level, which also referred to as
Intra-sentential.
- Code-Switching is a practice by which interlocutors alternate between two or more
languages, or even varieties of the same language, in a conversation.
- Constraints are the limitations or restrictions that control Code-Switching or Code-
Mixing in a conversation.
- Constituent is one of the parts that a substance or combination is made of.
- Multilingual is a person who is able to use several languages for communication
especially with equal fluency.
- Trilingual is a person who is able to use three languages, especially with equal or nearly
equal fluency.
List of Tables
Table 1: The Questions of the Interviews Related to the Research Questions…………….27
Table 2 : Single Words and Phrasal Categories in English and Arabic Mixes………….....32
Table 3: French Learners Answers about (yes) or (No) Questions of the Questionnaire…44
Table 4: The Situations in which French Minors Mix English or Arabic with Persons who
Speak French …………….……………………………………………………….45
Chapter One
Introduction
A bilingual or a trilingual may code-mix one language and another when they
communicate inside or outside the classroom. Code- Mixing in this case is understood as
''the use of elements (phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic) from two languages in
the same utterance or stretch of conversation (Genessee, 2008, p. 3). Code-Mixing is a
phenomenon that can be observed in the conversations of children and adults in different
contexts and situations. It is called intra-sentence in which two languages are used in the
same sentence (S= L1 + L2). (E.g., “give me le cahier ”/“give me the notebook”). In Code
Switching (CS), which is inter-sentential, the switch takes place from one language to
another across sentences (S1+S2 = L1 + L2). (E.g., Mother: “What’s this?”; child: “c'est
un cahier). Some researchers have also referred to the formal and informal situations
where bilinguals mix or switch languages. They referred to mixing as 'situational mixing',
Genesse (1989). This type of mixing depends on the context itself.
''Cook(2002) defines CS as the phenomenon which occurs when bilinguals switch
between two common languages they share in the middle of a conversation. The switch
takes place between or within sentences, involving phrases, words or even parts of words''.
(Alshehab, 2014, p. 2).
It has been mentioned that students code-mix from French to English and Arabic
in their conversations inside and outside the classroom. This linguistic behavior at H.U
would be an interesting area of investigation. It was decided to explore the areas of this
phenomenon among French- English learners at H.U. It must be important to investigate
the reasons behind the learners' French- English and Arabic Code-Mixing in the classroom,
and to investigate the constrains of such Code-Mixing. Seeing that such a domain has
rarely been investigated by other researchers to the best of the researcher's knowledge,
makes the researcher hope to contribute to the field of French-English and Arabic Code-
Mixing.
Code switching (CS) and Code-Mixing (CM) are two important topics in
bilingualism research. According to Hijazi (2013), some researchers have got interested in
Code-Switching and Code-Mixing as psychological phenomenon while others have got
interested in them as a linguistic one. She explains in her research different factors that
affect the two linguistic behaviors (CS & CM). These factors include education, age,
gender, topic and setting. Other researchers consider other factors to be more important
than the previous ones like: situation, function, and the interlocutors. Genesse (1989)
states that the long period of exposure to the languages is an important factor that affects
Code-Switching and Code-Mixing. Long exposure to the languages leads to more frequent
CS & CM among interlocutors. Others like Kanakri & Lonescu (2010) state that the
relationship between interlocutors influence CS and CM.
Code-Mixing will be investigated in relation to the communicative functions that
the learners of French-English at H.U aimed at. The constraints of mixing will also be
investigated. In brief, this study focuses on why and how learners of French-English at
H.U mix during their conversations inside the classroom.
1.1 Code- Switching & Code-Mixing in the Palestinian Context:
CS and CM are two phenomena that can be practiced in Palestine since it is a non-
native country in which English is taught as a first foreign language in schools and at
Universities, while French is the second foreign language that is taught in some Palestinian
schools and Universities. Following the signing of several agreements with the French
General Consulate in Jerusalem since 1995, French has been approved to be taught as a
second foreign language in some public schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip which
were called Pilot Schools. They have become more numerous to reach the figure of 26
schools. They serve as a test for the official introduction of French into all public
secondary schools (Bishawi, 2014). According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 72
teachers are teaching French in 79 public schools in the current academic year
(2016/2017) with a total of 5954 students in Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip). At the
same period, French is taught in 35 private schools (27 of them in the West Bank and 8 of
them are in Gaza Strip). (accessed May 2nd
, 2017).
French is usually taught at some Palestinian Universities as a Major or a Minor.
The previous foreign languages are used by teachers, college educators and learners. It is
clear that English is used in some workplaces and establishments in Palestine since foreign
languages are important to be learnt among Palestinians and to be used in their national
and international companies.
In 1999, French became taught as a Major specialist in some Palestinian
Universities after the signing of French Linguistic and academic cooperation with the
Palestinian Authority (Bishawi, 2014). With more reading about Code-Mixing of different
languages, it has been decided to investigate this phenomenon since the learners of French
at Hebron University Code-Mix French and English or French and Arabic in their
conversations inside the classroom.
1.2 Statement of the Problem:
In the Palestinian context, French is taught as a second foreign language, coming
after English, in some universities and some particular (private and public) schools. It is
seldom needed outside the formal setting of the classroom. Minors of French at Hebron
University whose L1 is Arabic code mix in their interactions between French (L3), English
(L2) and Arabic in the classroom. They mix English or Arabic during their
communications in French. The reasons behind code-mixing whether it is for lack of
vocabulary or for clarification will be investigated in this study. Research usually
investigates Code-Mixing in bilinguals in one of the native countries of the bilingual. This
study investigates Code-Mixing in non native country context for speakers who learn
English and French as foreign languages. Linguistic aspects of the Code- Mixing used by
the French learners at H.U will be analyzed.
1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Study :
This study aims at investigating the linguistic aspects of Code-Mixing. It will also
look at the functions and the constraints of Code-Mixing in the performance of the French
learners at H.U. It could be important to investigate such a practice because it occurs in a
context in which L3 is used in the repertoire of trilinguals. It also aims at exploring the
theoretical and practical application of Code-Mixing whereby the theoretical application
tests the existing theory of Code-Mixing; the practical application should be directed to
teachers of French to understand the natural behavior of learners who mix English, French
and Arabic.
1.4 Research Questions:
1. What kind of context allows for mixing?
2. Why do learners mix?
3. How do mixers follow the universal constraints in their mixes?
1.5 Hypotheses of the Study:
1- Students use mixing in context like classroom sessions.
2- Students mix for both lack of vocabulary and for clarification.
3- Mixers do not follow the universal constraints.
1.6 Limitations of the Study:
French has been approved to be taught at Hebron University as Minor for English
Majors from the first academic semester (2004/2005) to this current one (2016/2017).
According to the Department of Admission and Registration at Hebron University, 1350
students were registered to study French to be Minor besides English which is Major
during the previous academic semesters (accessed April 23, 2017). Some of them
continued their studying of French, but others stopped for different academic or personal
reasons. According to the Department of Admission and Registration, English Majors who
were registered at H.U during the same academic semesters were 1970 learners (accessed
April 30, 2017). The sample of this study is limited to 61 students who were registered at
H.U in the second academic semester of (2015/2016). They study French for 3 years
finishing 30 credits in French. Researches on French Majors may have different results
since they study more than 30 credits in French.
1.7 Definitions of Terms:
1 -Bilingualis a person who is fluent in two languages.
2 - Code-Mixing takes place inside the sentence or the clause level, which also referred to
as Intra-sentential.
3 - Code-Switching is a practice by which interlocutors alternate between two or more
languages, or even varieties of the same language, in a conversation.
4 -Constraints are the limitations or restrictions that control Code-Switching or Code-
Mixing in a conversation.
5 - Constituent is one of the parts that a substance or combination is made of.
6 - Multilingual is a person who is able to use several languages for communication
especially with equal fluency.
7 - Trilingual is a person who is able to use three languages, especially with equal or
nearly equal fluency.
Chapter Two
Literature Review
2.1 Historical Background about English and French
Since this study investigates the mixing of French and English, then it is relevant to
give a historical background about the two languages as they have a lot in common. Latin
and German were considered to be the most important languages that affected English
over the world. French had influenced the shape of English language which was the fact
that many people did not realize.
Angles, Jutes, and Saxons who settled in Britain in about 450 A.D were the three
German tribes whose dialects affected the shape of the English language, Lawless (2015).
These dialects' forms had also created what linguists referred to as Anglo-Saxon. After
that, this language had been developed into what was known as Old English.
''Anglo-Norman French became the language of the kings and nobility of England
for more than 300 years (Henry IV, who came to the English throne in 1399, was the first
monarch since before the Conquest to have English as his mother tongue)''
(http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_middle.html#Top).
According to Lawless (2015), The Norman Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and,
later, the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087, was
the final cataclysm which awaited the English language. Side by side, English had been
used in England in everyday uses without problems. Although English was ignored by
grammarians during that time, it had become grammatically simpler language after only
70 or 80 years of its existence. Side by side with French, Old English had been developed
into Middle English.
According to Lawless (2015), about 10,000 French words were adopted into
English during the Norman occupation. Some of them are still in use until today. Those
French words are found in law, in government, in art and even in literature. (E.g:agent
provocateur= provocative agent/ aide-de-camp= camp assistant). It is estimated that more
than a third of English words derived directly or indirectly from French. As a result,
15,000 French words are known by speakers who have never studied French. However,
there is 1,700 true cognates in the two languages (they mean the same in both languages):
Sciences/ maths/ information, ….. etc .
''English pronunciation owes a lot to French as well. Whereas Old English had the
unvoiced fricative sounds [f], [s], [θ] (as in thin), and [∫] (shin), French influence helped to
distinguish their voiced counterparts [v], [z], [ð] (the), and [ʒ] (mirage), and also
contributed the diphthong [ɔy] (boy)'' (Lawless, 2015, p.1) .
The previous quotation shows us the influence of French on English pronunciation.
A lot of English pronunciation relates to French. French influence helped Old English to
distinguish the voiced counterparts ([v], [z], [the], and [3] ) from the unvoiced fricative
sounds [f], [s], [thin], and [shin]. Moreover, French also contributed the diphthong [boy].
French had also rarely influenced English in grammar in the word order of
expressions like surgeon general. While French had the (noun+ adjective) word order: une
personne contente, English had the (adjective + noun) word order: happy person.
Given this background, French and English are strongly connected linguistically.
As a result, it is natural to see several similarities between them. Code- Mixing is
considered to be one of several linguistic phenomena that appear among persons who
speak those two languages. These similarities will be taken in consideration by the
researcher in conducting this research.
2.2 Status of French Language among other Languages in Palestine
To learn more about the status of French language in Palestine, the researcher gives
a historical background of languages in Palestine according to their importance.
2.2.1 Arabic
Arabic is the mother tongue of most of Palestinians. Arabic variety is the language
of the Palestinian community. It is used orally outside the classroom; while classic Arabic
(Al Fusha) is the principle language of teaching in Palestinian schools and universities. It is
also the official language of the Palestinian Authority which is used for different purposes.
(Itma, 2010).
2.2.2 English
After the British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948), English became the principle
language for the British government, and Arabic became the language of education in
Palestinian schools and universities (Itma, 2010). As a result, English became the first
foreign language in Palestine which is used for different purposes in education like
scientific domains (e.g: medicine, pharmacy,….etc). Nowadays, it could be difficult for
learners to study at Palestinian universities without having a principle level in English.
2.2.3 Hebrew
Despite the existence of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories,
Hebrew, the Israeli language, is not widely spread. The majority of Palestinians who speak
Hebrew are from those who work in Israel in different companies like restaurants, hotels,
industries or construction…..etc. They practice it informally at work. Others, like traders,
advocates,….etc, use it formally and for personal purposes at their work. Palestinian
Universities present Hebrew as optional courses with basic knowledge for the students. As
a result, Hebrew is still used by a small group of Palestinians who are concerned to use it
for personal purposes. (Bishawi, 2014).
2.2.4 French
The Ottoman Empire (1516-1917) granted privileges to religious congregations to
Christians who had come to protect the Christian holy places in the Holy Land (Palestine).
At that time, France opened schools, reception centers, hospitals and orphanages for
pilgrims. These congregations brought together several nationalities from Russia to
America. This action has been concentrated in the Jerusalem- Bethlehem because the
Christian presence is very important in the cities. Later, during the British Mandate, there
were French Biblical Schools. They taught French in the first class (7 years) until the
terminal (eighteen years). It was not until the 1980s that French cultural centers in
Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, and Gaza. Thus during the same period, French invaded
higher education initially as an optional module and then as a Minor specialty with a Major
specialty that was English. A few years later, a Major French specialty was born in 1999
after the signing of the linguistic and academic cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.
(Bishawi, 2014).
2.3 Code-Mixing and Code-Switching
The present study was based on a selection of theoretical assumptions related to the
phenomenon of Code-Mixing, one of which is the definition itself. Poplack (1980) in his
study 'Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish Y TERMINO EN ESPANOl: toward a
typology of code-switching', had not distinguished between Code-Mixing and Code-
Switching. He provides some examples of Code-Mixing to what he referred to as Code-
Switching. In the following example, there was no exact distinction between the two
phenomena.
'Leo un MAGAZINE'. [mreg~'ziyn],
[ 'I read'-ainagazine'] .
As reported in Ayeomoni (2006), Bokamba (1989) defines CM to be the
embedding of different linguistic units such as words (unbound morphemes), affixes
(bound morphemes), clauses and phrases in a co-operative activity of two participants.
Bokamba (1989) states that CS is the mixing of words, phrases and sentences from two
grammatical (sub) systems across sentence boundaries within the same speech event while
CM is the embedding of various linguistic units such as words within a sentence.
Ayeomoni (2006) claims that CM versus CS distinction is poorly motivated because both
of them can occur as part of the same conversational turn, and both can serve the social
function. The researcher in this current study did not find a big difference between CS and
CM inside the classroom since each one could involve the other. On the other hand, the
researcher observed English/ French and Arabic Code-Mixing inside the classroom, so that
her concentration was on the instances of CM rather than on the difference between the
instances of CS and those of CM.
As it is mentioned in Kim (2006), Muysken (2000) defines code-mixing as all cases
where grammatical features and lexical items from two languages appear in one sentence.
Bhatia and Ritchie (2004) state that code-mixing refers to the mixing of various linguistic
units (words, morphemes, phrases, modifiers, clauses and sentences)primarily from two
participating grammatical systems within a sentence. Wahdani (2008) states that Code
mixing takes place without a change of topic and can involve different levels of language
like morphology and lexical items.
2.4 Reasons and Motivations of Code-Mixing and Code-Switching:
Linguists have investigated in their studies the reasons, types and functions of
Code-Mixing and Code-Switching. Ayeomoni (2006) presents in his study the reasons of
CS and CM. He points to sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic reasons. He also reported in
his study other reasons of CM and CS like self-pride, integrity, comfortability, prestige
and status. Other reasons include westernization, modernization, professionalism,
efficiency and social advancement are also considered to be important reasons for CS and
CM (Akere, 1977; Bokamba, 1989; Hymes, 1962; Kachru, 1989; Kamwangamalu, 1989).
Direct quotation or reported speech leads to language mixing or switching among
bilinguals cross-linguistically (Bhatia and Ritche, 2004). Some bilinguals mix two
languages when they cannot find appropriate words or expressions or when there is no
exact translation for the language being used. Also, bilinguals‟ situations, interlocutors,
emotions, messages, and attitudes generate Code-Mixing according to Grosjean (1982), as
reported in Kim (2006).
Expressing group identity, repetition used for clarification, being emphatic about
something, softening or strengthening request or command, intention for clarifying the
speech content for interlocutor and excluding other people when a comment is intended for
only a limited audience also lead to Code-Mixing according to Hoffman (1992), as cited in
Wahdani (2008).
2.5 Types of Code-Switching and Code-Mixing:
Linguists have discussed various types of CS and CM. Code-Switching takes a
variety of forms. It can occur within or at the end or beginning of sentences, Bista (2010).
Bista (2010), Hijazi (2013) and Esen (2016) present in their studied Intersentential and
Intra-sentential Code-Switching. In Intersentential Code-Switching, the language switch is
done at sentence boundaries. This type is often seen between fluent bilingual speakers
(Jisa, 2000). Esen (2016), Bista (2010) and Lipski (1981), as reported in Hijazi (2013),
refer to the Intra-sentential Code-Switching and state that it occurs in the middle of the
sentence without hesitation or making pauses that may indicate the shift. This type of
Code-Switching is more sophisticated than the first one. "The complexity of this type of
switching is explained by the high probability of violation of syntactic rules, as well as the
requirement of a great knowledge of both grammars and how they map onto each other''
(Jalil, 2009, p.4).
The third type of Code-Switching is tag-switching (which is also referred to in Esen
(2016) as Extra Code-Switching). "Tag-switching involves the inclusion of a tag (e.g. oh
my God, you know, right, etc) in a language other than that of the whole sentence and
these tags may freely insert at any point in a sentence'' (Hijazi, 2013, p.24). Jalil (2009)
states that tag-switching is considered to be a very simple type of switching and does not
involve a great command of both languages because there is a minimum risk of violation
of grammatical rules. For example, from a Portuguese-English bilingual as cited in Jalil
(2009) : “I look like Lilica, you know, nuncaparo!” [I look like Lilica, you know, I never
stop!] (Jalil, 2009 , p. 4).
Bista (2010) states another type of Code Switching which is called “Code
Changing”. It is characterized by fluent intra-sentential shifts, transferring focus from one
language to another. It is motivated by situational and stylistic factors and the switch
between two languages is conscious and intentional (Lipski, 1985).
Reviewing such types of code mixing and switching, gives back ground on both types;
however, the work will only be limited to mixing rather than switching and therefore, only
mixing types will be our focus in the study.
2.6 Review of CM Studies in Relation to their Methodologies
To make benefit of the past major studies in CM, such studies will be reviewed
according to the following dimensions: Population of study, methods of data collection,
analysis and results of these studies.
To begin with the most recent study, Yousef (2015-2016) will be reviewed according
to the outline given above:
A study of Code-Switching by Yousef (2015-2016) will be analyzed in this study. In
his study: English-Cairene Arabic Classroom Code Switching: An Interactional-
Sociolinguistic Approach, Youssef (2015-2016) has discussed English-Cairene Arabic
Code-Switching in university classrooms.
The subjects of the study were seven university staff members bilingual Egyptian
professors in the academic year 2001/2002 at Ain Shams University in Cairo (33–53 years
old). One was male, and six were females. They had semi-native proficiency in English.
Their personalities were coded. The researcher referred to all participants generically as
„professors‟.
The methods of collecting data in Yousef (2015-2016) were as follows:
1. Collecting naturally occurring classroom instances of CS and not provoked by the
researcher. By this method, the researcher minimized the speakers' avoidance of CS in
their speech.
2. The researcher adopted Weinreich's (1953) technique which was studying written
observations of naturalistic speech.
3. Data collection involved keeping a field diary.
4. A questionnaire to solicit the participants‟ reflections on what had been happening.
5. Audio or video recordings were avoided as they could compromise the naturalness of
the data, which would be counterproductive for the research.
The analysis of data was by explaining the types of CS providing examples to
simplify them. After that, the researcher turned to the functions of CS so that the analysis
was based on classifying the utterances collected into categories according to these
functions. The examples produced by the observed professors were classified according to
their categories as mentioned before.
The results of the study were as the following:
1. All code-switches are structurally rule governed. The study was concerned with L2
classroom CS, and so it had focused on the social functions that CS performed in this
particular context.
2. As a verbal strategy of bilingual instructors, CS was used to compensate for lack of
facility, to communicate emotional states, to express solidarity with the students, to
boost their comprehension, and to show respect for their background, culture, and life
experiences through discourse-related usage.
3. The researcher has shown that bilingual educators vary in their levels of awareness of
attitudes toward CS.
4. Many are unaware of the fact that they code-switch; many condemn it as a linguistic
impurity or a sign of laziness; and only a few view it as a linguistic asset for bilingual
speakers.
Sridhar (2015)states particular functions concerning Code-Mixing discussing the
mixing of Perso-Arabic and Kannada and then turn to English-Kannada Code-Mixing as
the following:'
1. Social functions (commendation and criticism)
2. To evoke a certain type of attitudinal association
3. CM is regarded as an indicator of 'rowdy' behavior and a strange non-normal upbringing
4. A role-identifying device and register identification
5. A matter of prestige
6. A mark of education, urbaneness and sophistication
7. To fill certain types of lexical gaps in the absorbing language
8. Pragmatic functions of CM (relate to the perception-real imagined by the user of the
mixed language, of the special connotations of expressiveness, refinement, etc, of the
mixed elements as opposed to their equivalents in the absorbing language).
The subject for his study, Sridhar(2015) has focused on the functional roles of
Code-Mixing. He starts by studying the nature of the mixture between those languages. He
has analyzed a text from a contemporary „social‟ play in Kannada. The analyzed text is
spoken by an irritated father, who is outraged by his prospective son-in-law‟s demand of
„dowry‟ in relation to his daughter‟s wedding.
Sridhar's (2015) methodology depends on examining representative samples of mixed
speech (and writing) in relation to their context of situation. He starts by discussing the
mixing of Perso-Arabic and Kannada and then turns to English-Kannada code-mixing.
Sridhar (2015)in his analysis found several features in the text that need careful
attention.
1. In the level of grammatical organization of mixing, there are single nouns (dowry),
verbs (arrange) attributive and predicative adjectives (commercial minded, educated),
and entire noun phrases with complex internal structure (the sacred occasion of
arranging the holy alliance of marriage).
2. The mixed elements are not particularly culture bound, they are for the most part
ordinary, day to day items for which perfectly acceptable equivalents exist in colloquial
Kannada (and are used in non-mixed varieties).
3. The mixed elements obey the rules of their original language (in this case English) with
respect to their internal grammatical organization, while they obey the rules of the
absorbing language (in this case Kannada) with respect to their external grammatical
organization.
4. He noticed that the mixed elements do not necessarily fill a „lexical gap‟ in the
absorbing language; they exist side by side with perfectly acceptable equivalents in the
absorbing language, forming an additional lexical stratum. It is conceivable that there
might be a subtle pragmatic difference in the minds of the users of the mixed language
between the mixed elements and their absorbing language counterparts.
5. Sridhar (2015) also states that the chosen text of his study illustrates that mixing takes
place rapidly, frequently, and almost unconsciously, within a single social event, within
a single text, and, in fact, several times within a single sentence, It is a hopeless task to
try to find distinct, isolatable sociolinguistic correlates for every instance of the shift.
According to him, it seems best to attempt a sociolinguistic explanation of code- mixing
in terms of the alternation between the mixed and the non-mixed (or „pure‟) varieties.
The results of Sridhar's (2015) study are:
1. The more educated a person the more he tends to mix elements from English in his
Kannada.
2. The more earthy and „physical‟ a person the greater the mixture of Perso-Arabic
elements in his Kannada.
3. Code-Mixing in Perso-Arabic is seen as an indicator of „rowdy‟ behavior and a strange,
non-normal upbringing.
4. He also, in his given examples, illustrates the participant-governed nature of Code-
Mixing and the speakers‟ sensitivity to its appropriateness in a given sociolinguistic
context.
5. Code-Mixing can be a role identifying device. Eventually, the qualities of tenderness,
helpfulness, etc., are not to be expected of a person who mixes Perso-Arabic elements in
his language. In contrast with the mixture of Perso-Arabic elements, the mixing of
English with Kannada is considered a matter of prestige, a mark of education,
urbaneness and sophistication.
6. Code-Mixing also performs the function of „register identification'. In a multilingual
community, the use of different languages in different functional settings results in each
language being associated with a particular register or set of registers.
7. The last function of Code-Mixing is pragmatic. This relates to the perception- real or
imagined- by the user of the mixed language, of the special connotations of
expressiveness, refinement, powerfulness, etc., of the mixed elements as opposed to
their equivalents in the absorbing language.
Hijazi (2013)
It is the second in the most recent research of CS. She states communicative
functions concerning Code-Switching discussing the switching of Palestinian children in
family conversations as the following:
1. Emphasizing a point, showing solidarity with a group and exchange
2. The equivalence function
3. To bridge a gap in communication
4. To guarantee the continuity of the interaction and to avoid a breaking in communication
5. Emphasis and clarification through reiteration
6. Emphasis in addition to topic shift and accommodation
7. Facilitate understanding
8. To mark quotations
9. To express affective feelings such as anger
The subjects of Hijazi (2013) are four Palestinian children, aged between 8 and 15,
whose mother tongue is Arabic and who attended private school in the city of Jerusalem.
They are the researcher's own children.
Methods in Hijazi (2013) were as follows:
1. Observation over a period of six and a half months.
2. A questionnaire.
3. A structural interview based on the questionnaire.
4. Writing in the diary.
Administration of the questionnaire:
The questionnaire was distributed for school children, of the same age range, to
explore their motives and the functions they desire to achieve (if they affirm the fact that
they do switch codes). The researcher was sure to choose children with the most similar
conditions to those of her four children. Some of the questionnaire sentences had to be
explained for the children in slang Arabic and others had to be exemplified with real life
situations so that the children can understand them well.
The analysis of Hijazi (2013) was by classifying and analyzing the instances
according to the functions that those instances aimed at. She has depended on qualitative
and quantitative analysis for the utterances themselves and the contexts in which they were
produced. During the classification procedure, the activity the children were involved in,
the interlocutor, the subject, the mood of the speaker/or the listener and the level of
competency were all taken in consideration by the researcher.
The results of Hijazi (2013) were given in her study in a variety of graphs
depending on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the interview and the
questionnaire of the groups of children who she had chosen to collect information about
their Code-Switching. The results were as the following:
1. The four children of the researcher produced code-switched utterances of three main
types: inter-sentential, intra-sentential and intra-word.
2. The eldest children produced less complex CS than the younger children which was the
unexpected result for the researcher.
3. There were many similarities between the different results of the interview and the
questionnaire.
Bista (2010)
It is one of the recent studies of Code-Switching. It investigated factors of Code-
Switching among bilingual English students in the university classroom.
The subjects of the study were 15 international students from Troy University
located in Troy, Alabama. 10 were graduate students and 5 were undergraduates. The ages
of participants ranged from 19 to 31. One third of the subjects came from a 22-25 age
groups. For all the participants, first language (L1) was their national language, and
second or target language was English (L2). Students who participated in this study were
enrolled in English classes where they learned and exercised the second language in a
classroom setting. The subjects spoke both L1 and L2 outside the classroom as well as
during classes.
Methods of collecting data:
1. A questionnaire
2. Classroom observation
3. Recording the classroom interactions and the particular circumstances where Code-
Switching occurred.
The analysis of data was done step by step in the order that the questions appear.
It was compared and contrasted with related studies. Aspects of the findings were
graphically displayed.
The results of the study revealed that the factors that influenced code-switching
were as the follows:
1. No similar words 14%
2. Did not know the word 9%
3. To fill a gap 9%
4. Easier to speak 23%
5. To avoid misunderstanding 15%
6. To add emphasis 9%
7. To add emphasis 12%
8. For privacy 6%
9. Other 3%
Atawneh (1992)
It is one of the most important research in Code-Mixing. It investigated Code-Mixing
In Arabic-English Bilinguals.
The subjects of the study were three Arab children learned English during their stay
in Britain for one year (1982-1983). Their ages were between 9-11 years.
Methods of collecting data:
1. Recording the mixed utterances over the period from March 15, 1988 to April 15, 1988
in a diary by both parents of the children (the researcher being the father).
2. Children's tape-recording of a massage about life in Stony Brook to their relatives
back home
The analysis of collected data was made at two levels:
1. A syntactic categorization of the mixes in order to investigate the type and frequency of
linguistic units that are likely to be mixed and to determine the point in an utterance
where the mix occurs.
2. Applying the so-called universal constraints to examples from the data to test their
validity in relation to Arabic-English Code-Mixing.
The results of the previous study were as follows:
1. One-word mixes were of higher frequency than phrasal mixes.
2. Among the one-word categories, nouns were ranked as first highest in frequency
followed by verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The frequency of verbs in the previous
study was significantly different from that found in other studies.
3. Among the phrasal mixes, noun phrases ranked highest followed by verb phrases.
4. None of the constraints were tested in this study was found to hold perfectly.
5. There had been a systematic evidence that the rules of the word order of the language of
the adjective, rather than the head of the NP, in CM determined the word order of the
adjective and noun in code-mixing structures.
6. There was a general tendency to assimilate English verbs onto Arabic verb patterns,
while English nouns were much less likely to be assimilated. Applying the rules of
borrowing in languages to either mixes in general and verb mixes in particular did not
seem to indicate that such kind of mixed verbs were of a borrowed nature.
7. Articles, prepositions and conjunctions were not part of the code-mixing process as
single units.
Poplack (1980)
It is one of the most important studies toward a typology of Code-Switching. The
subjects of his study were the speech of 20 Puerto Rican residents of a stable bilingual
community, exhibiting varying degrees of bilingual ability.
Methods of Collecting Data:
1. A questionnaire.
2. Recorded speech data in both interview and 'natural' settings.
3. Sociolinguistic interview with each informant.
4. Ethnographic information.
5. Speakers' own reports.
The analysis of collected data was as the follows:
1. Quantitative concerning both linguistic and extra-linguistic questions. The answers were
incorporated into a single analytic model. The linguistic questions concerned the surface
configuration of the switches, and the extra-linguistic questions concerned the code-
switcher.
2. Multivariate statistical technique was used to determine which factors made a
significant contribution, independent of the effects' of other factors, to the choice of
code-switch type.
3. A maximum likelihood approach was taken for the evaluation of factor effects,
together with log-likelihood tests of significance.
The results of the study were as the follows:
1. Both fluent and non-fluent bilinguals were able to Code-Switch frequently and still
maintain grammaticality in both L1 and L2.
2. Fluent bilinguals tended to switch at various syntactic boundaries within the
sentence.
3. Non-fluent bilinguals favored switching between sentences, allowing them to
participate in the Code-Switching mode, without fear of violating a grammatical rule of
either of the languages involved.
4. The Code-Switching mode proceeds from the area of the bilingual's grammar where the
surface structures of L1 and L2 overlap.
5. Code-Switching is actually a sensitive indicator of bilingual ability.
In conclusion of the review, it can be summarized as:
1. How data can be collected (observation, dairy method, recording classes, interviews,
questionnaires etc…).
2. The way of analyzing data (categorization of grammatical items in mixing; nouns,
verbs, adjectives, etc…).
3. Comparing examples from this study to examples from reviewed studies (only examples
from similar situations even though of different languages)
4. The scope of study compared to the scope of reviewed studies (scope of size of sample
or number of participants and relationship to researcher).
Chapter Three
Methodology
3.1 Subjects
Given this background from the review, the current study has unequal number of
gender. Their communication is limited to the classroom. 61 students were selected to be
subjects for this study. They were five males and fifty six females. Their ages were around
22 year-old. (44.3%) of them were in the third level and (55.7%) of them were in the fourth
level at University. They had never studied French before University. They had never been
to France or to any English speaking country. They use English for academic purposes and
they rarely use it outside the classroom; the same thing applies to French. Because French
is studied as a Minor and English is studied as a Major, they are expected to fall in English
or Arabic (their native language) for filling gaps in their French communication.
3.2 Data Collection
Due to the context of the present study, three instruments were used to collect data.
The researcher used observation, accompanied with documentation in a diary, a structured
interview with French minors at H.U, and a questionnaire had been answered by the same
French minors who were observed.
3.2.1 Observation
Given the background of data collection of other studies, the researcher in this
study used observation of French sessions at Hebron University as a main source of
collecting data. During her observation, the researcher also detected instances of Code-
Mixing and collected data for analysis. This procedure was conducted over a period of 4
months, from February to May 2016. The observation included 3rd
and 4th
year students
inside the classroom.
The researcher wrote the instances that included Code-Mixing in a diary, specified
who produced the utterance, who was addressed and the specific context in which the
instance occurred. During this process, it was important for the researcher that the French
minors did not know that they were being observed in order to get the utterances in a
natural setting. Moreover, the researcher avoided tape- or video-recording for not catching
the learners' attention or for not changing their behavior inside the classroom sessions.
Even writing in the diary attracted their attention a few times, but they were always content
with the researcher's answer that she was writing down ideas to revise what she had learnt
at University (since she was one of French minors at H.U). Consequently, the instances
that were collected were natural and spontaneous.
The observation took place in the classroom sessions during French learners'
participations and discussions with their teachers or together. The researcher didn‟t
participate in their discussions at all. However, she changed her seat every session for not
being with the same group of learners all the time. As a result, 79 instances of Code-
Mixing were collected inside the classroom.
3.2.2 Semi-Structured Interview
According to Talmy (2010), Interviews have been used for a long time to be one or
the primary mean of collecting data in empirical inquiry across the social sciences. In
applied linguistics, interview research has increased dramatically in recent years, especially
in qualitative studies that aim to investigate participants‟ experiences, beliefs, identities,
and orientations toward a certain subject or phenomena. There are several types of
interviews in applied linguistics like, structured interview, semi-structured, and
unstructured. After four months of observation, data were collected by semi-structured
interviews that didn‟t limit respondents to a set of pre-determined answers (unlike a
structured interview). The semi-structured interview was used to understand the
interviewees interventions work and how they could be improved. It also allowed
respondents to discuss and raise issues that the researcher may not have considered. Doly
(2015) defines the semi-structured interview to be a meeting in which the interviewer does
not necessarily follow a formalized list of questions. The interviewer may prepare a list of
questions but does not necessarily ask them all, or touch on them in any particular
order. In some cases, the interviewer has only a list of general topics to be addressed,
called an interview guide. Four French learners were selected to be interviewed. Three of
them were females (Dima, Rawan and Sanaa), and one was male (Rami), (see appendix H,
p.78). They were from the same group of French learners who were observed by the
researcher for an academic semester. As it is mentioned before, they were between 20 and
23 years old, and they were from the same linguistic level of that of their classmates whom
were observed inside the classroom. The interviews were conducted on campus away from
their teachers, so that the learners were out of the impact and the observation of their
teachers. By such a strategy, the researcher was sure that those learners were speaking
freely and honestly about their English or Arabic code-mixing inside the classroom.
Basically, the questions of the questionnaire were the basis for the interview. They
were seven questions (see appendix C, p. 68). The learners were asked about the duration
of their learning of French, and if they learnt it before university or not. They were also
asked about the situations in which they mix English or Arabic inside the French classroom
sessions. For clarification, the researcher asked the five selected interviewed learners if
they mixed Arabic more than English in French sessions or the contrary to know the
frequency of their mixed, and the reasons for those mixes. Finally, the researcher asked
about the linguistic knowledge (English / French) of the family members of those learners
to know it's effectiveness on their linguistic level. (See table 1, p. 27).
All the above questions were included in the questionnaire but the researcher chose
to do this questioning procedure orally with some of the French minors to expand the
question-answer interaction between her and the learners. This interaction helped her to get
more detailed information. The interview also made the researcher sure if the questions of
the questionnaire were clear for the minors and if they had answered them honestly.
Finally, the researcher compared between the answers of the French minors get more
information about the situations in which they Code-Mix French, English and Arabic
during their interactions.
Table 1
The Questions of the Interviews Related to the Research Questions
Question Objective
1. For how many years are you learning
French?
2. Did you learn French before University?
If yes, for how many years?
3. In what subjects you mix other
languages (French or English)?
To know the French level of competency
for the learner related to the kind of
context in which the learner mix inside the
classroom.
4. Do you mix English more than Arabic
while you are speaking French or you tend
to mix Arabic more than English? Why? 5.
5. When do you mix English or Arabic
while you are speaking French inside the
classroom sessions?
To know the frequency of mixing Arabic or
English while speaking French, and to know
the reasons of Arabic or English code-
mixing inside the classroom.
6. Do your parents or one of them speak
English or French?
7. Have you any family member who speaks
French other than you? If yes, do you speak
French with him/ her?
To know the relation between the parents
of French learners or any of their family
members' having knowledge about English/
French languages and their code-mixing of
such languages.
3.2.3 A Questionnaire
The last procedure was using a questionnaire (see appendix A, p. 64) which was an
adaptation of Hijazi's (2013) questionnaire included questions about the motives and
desired functions of Code-Mixing. To validate the questionnaire, it was distributed four
experts in the field of education and TEFL. Consequently, after some modifications, it was
judged as being a suitable instrument of the study. The questionnaire was distributed to 61
French learners. Their ages were between (20) and (24) years. (56) of them were females
and (5) of them were males. (44.3 %) of them were in the third year at University, and
(55.7 %) of them were in the fourth year. (44.3 % + 55.7 % = 100 %). (See table 3, p. 44 ).
Conducting such a questionnaire was meant to examine the existence of the code-
mixing phenomenon among the French minors at H.U, and compare its results with the
observational ones. For that reason, the researcher made sure to question all of the 61
French minors.
As what was mentioned in the above section, the researcher used the questions of
the questionnaire as a basis for interviewing some of the French minors who were
observed. All of the questionnaire items were in Arabic so that the French minors could
understand them well. The questionnaire consisted of four main sections, the first was an
inquiry about age, gender and years of learning French. Those inquiries could be an
evidence to the researcher that the French minors were from the same level of knowledge
in French and how gender affected their French/ English and Arabic mixing inside the
classroom. The previous evidence could be important for the researcher to indicate how
much the level of the French language competency of the French minors affected their
French/ English and Arabic mixes.
The second section included 'Yes' or 'No' questions about the French learners'
mixing of French/ English and Arabic while speaking with their classmates inside the
classroom. The researcher in this previous question aimed to know which languages did
the French minors mixed more than others. In this section, the researcher could also
indicate which language the French minors liked to mix more, and this could indicate that
the language that the French minors mixed more could be the easier language for them to
use inside the classroom. Other questions were about the ability of their parents to speak
English or French to know if their parents speak English or French. This question
examined if the French minors' parents affected their mixing of languages or not, and
finally about the French minors' feeling during Code-Mixing to know whether they were
comfortable during their mixing or not. (Results will be discussed in chapter 4). The third
section included ten situations in which Code-Mixing commonly takes place, and motives
that trigger Code-Mixing. Those situations were considered to be the reasons of French/
English and Arabic mixes by the French minors during French sessions. Some of those
situations were academic ones like not finding the suitable word or expression from the
target language, especially some proverbs or advises that related to certain languages or
cultures, emphasizing French minors' speech, and showing off their knowledge and skills
of using English and French (showing prestige to know foreign languages, examples:
Merci, d'accord, bonne nuit, ….etc). Others were social like expressing their feelings,
responding to someone, excluding a person who didn‟t understand them, or just a habit
they used to do. The French minors had to choose the ones that were true for his/her case.
In the last section, the researcher listed seven topics that the participants judged in relation
to how much French/ English and Arabic Code-Mixing practiced. Those topics were:
studying, friends, family matters, electronic games and world of technology, movies and
TV programs, songs and singers. The scale of judgment ranged from 1 to 5, 1 referred to
the least amount of code-mixed utterances and 5 referred to the most ones. The researcher
will analyze and discuss the results of the questionnaire in details in the following chapter.
Chapter Four
Results and Analysis
This chapter will present the analysis of the collected data in the sequence outlined
before. It begins with the analysis of syntactic categorization followed by the application of
the universal constraints of Code Mixing. Then the results of the questionnaire and the
outcomes of the interviews will be discussed.
4.1 Syntactic Categorization
Syntactic categories give an idea about which categories are more frequent than
others in mixing. This may give an idea of which categories are more important and
frequent than others in mixing. It is usually understood that content words like verbs,
nouns and adjectives are more used in language than function words which do not usually
carry much meaning. The analysis will show if the results of this study are in line with
former studies or different from those which are given in the context.
In their analysis of Spanish-English Code-Mixing of eighteen bilingual children
living in the U.S. from Mexican origin, Lindholm & Padilla (1978) categorized the mixed
utterances according to the level of mixing and the language environment. Two types of
categories were identified: lexical mixes (the insertion of a single word from second
language into the utterance), and phrasal mixes (the insertion into an utterance of a phrase
from the second language). Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions were
considered to be lexical mixes, while noun phrases, verb phrases,….etc were considered to
be phrasal mixes. A syntactic categorization of the mixes was also done by Atawneh
(1992) in his analysis of Code-Mixing in Arabic-English Bilinguals. He followed the same
distribution patterns of Lindholm & Padilla (1978) to determine which parts of speech
were likely to be mixed and the frequency of their mixing. The analysis of Hijazi (2013), in
her study of communicative functions and motives of Palestinian children's Code-
Switching in family conversation, was by classifying and analyzing the instances
according to the functions that those instances aimed at. She depended on qualitative and
quantitative analysis for the utterances themselves and the contexts in which they were
produced. In Youssef (2015-2016), the analysis of data was by explaining the types of CS
providing examples to simplify them. After that, the researcher turned to the functions of
CS so that the analysis was based on classifying the utterances collected into categories
according to these functions. The computation of this study will follow the same
categorization of Atawneh (1992) and Lindholm & Padilla (1978) of the mixed elements
to determine which parts of speech are likely to be mixed and the frequency of their
mixing. The following Table 2 in the following page shows the percentages of the two
main categories (single-word category and phrasal category) found by the researcher:
Table2
Single Word and Phrasal Categories in English and Arabic Mixes
Category Mixes # % Category Mixes # %
Nouns
English nouns
Arabic nouns
25
11
14
28.7%
12.6%
16.1%
Noun
phrases
English N.Ps
Arabic N.Ps
2
-
2
2.3%
2.3%
Verbs
English verbs
Arabic verbs
19
11
8
21.8%
12.6%
9.2%
Verb phrases
English V.Ps
Arabic V.Ps
6
1
5
7%
1.1%
5.7%
Adjectives
English Adjs
Arabic Adjs
18
16
2
20.7%
18.4%
2.3%
Numbers 1
1.1%
Adverbs
English advs
Arabic advs
6 7 %
Preps (Arabic)
Conjunctions
English Conjs
Arabic Conjs
Articles
1
8
2
6
1
1.1%
9.3%
2.3%
7%
1.1%
Total 78 89.7 Total 9 10.3
Total of mixes from both types: 78+9 =87
Total of percentages in both types: 89.7% +10.3% =100%
4.2 Discussion of the Categorization of Parts of Speech
4.2.1 Question One: What Kind of Context Allows for Mixing?
The previous table 2 shows that single-word mixes (89.7%) occur more frequently
than phrasal mixes (10.3%). The noun category has the highest frequency of mixing among
single words (28.7%). For more details, Arabic nouns (16.1%) are more frequent than
English nouns (12.6%); whereas among the phrasal categories is the verb phrase (7%)
(1.1% for English verb phrases and 5.7% for Arabic verb phrases). The second most
common among single-word mixes is the verb category (21.8%), (12.6% for English verbs
and 9.2% for Arabic verbs), and in phrasal types is the noun phrase (2.3% all of them are
English). In the third place among single-word mixes come the adjectives (20.7%), (18.4%
are English adjectives and 2.3% are Arabic), followed by the conjunctions (9.3%) (7% for
Arabic conjunctions and 23% are English ones), adverbs (7%), and finally prepositions,
articles and numbers that show the same percentage (1.1%).
The previous findings lend support to Redouane (2005) in her study of Linguistic
Constraints on Code-Switching and Code-Mixing of Bilingual Moroccan Arabic-French
Speakers in Canada. One finding found in her study is that those Moroccan speakers
switched more smaller constituents (e.g., adjectives, adverbs, determiners, nouns, and
verbs) than larger constituents. More importantly, nouns were the most often highly
switched syntactic category among smaller constituents. Lindholm & Padilla (1978) and
Atawneh (1992) have the same findings in some parts and differ in others. Their samples
indicate that one-word mixes are more common than phrasal mixes which is the same as
this research findings. Their findings indicate that nouns and noun phrases are the first
highest among the two types. The previous findings of this research indicate that nouns are
the first highest among one-word mixes and verb phrases are the first highest frequency
among phrases. In the samples of Lindholm & Padilla (1978), as reported in Atawneh
(1992), single-word mixes involved nouns with the highest frequency followed by verbs
and then adjectives, while verbs came last in fourth place. In Atawneh (1992), nouns are
the most common mixes among single-word category followed by verbs, followed by
adjectives, then, adverbs and finally prepositions. In the same study, noun phrase is the
most common mixes among phrasal category, whereas verb phrase is the second most
common among phrasal types of mixes. Articles and conjunctions did not appear at all.
According to Berk-Seligson (1986) who studied Code-Switching and Code-Mixing
of eighty seven Spanish –Hebrew bilinguals, the order of one-word mixes was as follows:
nouns (40%), adverbs (4%), adjectives (3%), pronouns (0.3%), and verbs (0.1%) while in
phrasal categories the order was noun phrases (10%), verb phrases (1%), and adverbial
phrases (0.03%). As reported in Atawneh (1992), it was found in McClure (1977) study of
Mexican-American children that single nouns were inserted in about half of all mixed
utterances, second in frequency were adjectives, third were verbs, and fourth adverbs.
The results obtained from different studies show some agreement on the frequency
of certain syntactic categories in different code-mixing situations: nouns rank highest. But
they also show some disagreement on the frequency of other categories, such as adjectives,
verbs and adverbs which in some studies take second and third position in frequency,
respectively, but in this study their order of frequency is reversed, with verbs occurring
with higher frequency than adjectives. However, the results obtained from this study for
verbs are the same with some studies (ranked second in position) and differ from those
reported in other studies (adjectives being ranked second in position). This study shows
that verbs rank the second position among one-word categories, and verb phrases rank the
first position among phrasal categories which is different from the above mentioned results
of the previous studies. Prepositions, numbers and articles are the least to be used. One
generalization emerges for the comparison of these results: the frequency order of nouns is
always the first highest position. Articles and numbers occupy the lowest position.
Consequently, the previous results of the previous studies make it difficult to generalize an
order of frequency for adjectives, adverbs and verbs.
Joshi (1985) explained the low frequency, and in some cases, the absence of mixing
of some categories like prepositions and articles to their closed class in any language. He
also stated that categories belonging to an open class are imposed by the surface structure
of the host language. This observation suggests that Code-Mixing is a patterned
phenomenon and not random, Sridhar (1980). Therefore, the restrictions of the host
language determine the lexical items that can be mixed.
The above discussion answers the first research question of the current study:
''What kind of context allows for mixing?''. Mixes occurred inside the French classroom.
However, all of those mixes were answers to different questions asked by the teachers or
students. Some of them resulted in general French discussions inside the classroom. It
means that all of the previous examples have totally taken place in academic non-social
contexts.
4.3 Discussion of the Reasons of Code-Mixing inside the Classroom
4.3.1 Question Two: Why Do Learners Mix?
Code-Mixing is a linguistic phenomenon that appears among bilinguals or
multilinguals in academic or social contexts. Many linguists have investigated this
linguistic phenomenon in order to know and to analyze the reasons of Code-Mixing. Code-
Mixing may appear among both teachers and students. Lam (1999) distinguished between
the reasons of CM among teachers and those among students. He presented two categories
of the reasons of Code-Mixing in Chinese among teachers and students as the following:
1- Students‟ reasons:
- students did not understand the teacher
- students responded positively to the use of Chinese
- Students lack discipline
- Individual students needed the help of using Chinese
- There was not enough time left in the teaching period
2- Teachers‟ reasons:
- The teacher enjoys using Chinese in teaching English
- The teacher was over-worried about students' understanding
- The teacher considered the use of Chinese to be expedient
As it is mentioned above, the main reason of Code-Mixing among those Chinese
teachers is the low level of English proficiency of the Chinese students and consequently
their lack of comprehension. In this case, teachers code-mix to promote and to help English
teaching. Moreover, some teachers prefer Code-Mixing inside the classroom according to
the student's abilities and their linguistic needs. Enoka (2013) presented some factors that
influence teachers' CS inside the classroom like the student's low proficiency of the target
language and the teachers' desire to reduce the social distance between them and their
students. Teachers' Code-Mixing is avoided and not investigated in the current study since
it only concerns students' Code-Mixing inside the classroom.
The reasons of students' Code-Mixing have been investigated in several studies,
and therefore, it will be our concern in this current study. As reported in Lam (1999),
Catchen (1990) compared two types of contexts of learning English in Hong Kong. The
first one is ESL context and the second one is EFL context. In ESL contexts, English is
used as a second language and students use it in their daily life, and they were motivated to
learn it since it is the dominant language in their society. In contrast, in EFL contexts,
English is used as a foreign language inside the classroom. In this case, teachers may use
Chinese inside the classroom to enhance learning English, to help students understand and
to save time. However, students deal with English as a foreign language which is rarely
used outside the classroom and so they code-mix English and Chinese inside the
classroom. Their Code-mixing could be as a result of lack of vocabulary and the low level
of competency in English.
In the current study, students Code-Mix inside the classroom for several reasons.
Some of these reasons are observed by the researcher during the French sessions. Other
reasons were concluded from their answers to the questionnaires. More reasons were
taken from the interviews with some students. The majority of students' mixes shown in
table 1 resulted from their lack of French vocabulary. Others resulted from the students'
desire to confirm that they exactly understood what their teacher asked and their answers.
The interviewed students confirmed that they Code-Mixed because of some traditional
expressions that had no equivalence in French or even in English. Finally, some mixes
occurred as a result of the similarity of some of English and French words in spelling, so
students bring the French words in their speech while pronouncing them in English or
French.
Given this background, the next section will discuss specific reasons with
examples.
4.3.2 Lack of Vocabulary
It was clear that the majority of the mixes of French-English and French-Arabic
among the students during their sessions resulted from the lack of vocabulary. As it is
observed in the French Sessions, (45) of mixes from both English and Arabic (51.7% of
the mixes) resulted because the students didn‟t find their synonyms in French. They tried
to convey the meaning by giving the same meaning of the missed word from both English
or Arabic. The following examples were observed by the researcher through the French
sessions:
(1) Les enfants pleurent de parce qu'ils ont hungry (ˈhʌŋɡrɪ).
The children cry because they are hungry
(2) D'une première naːðˤrah
From the first look.
The results of the questionnaire confirmed that the French Minors at H.U mixed
English/ Arabic for the lack of vocabulary. (90.2%) of those learners answered that they
mix English or Arabic when they did not find the suitable or the correct expressions they
needed in French. Their mixing was particularly to convey the meaning. (See table 4, p.45)
The Interviews showed the same result about the French Minors' lack of vocabulary
that led them to mix English or Arabic. Some interviewed learners confirmed that their
code-mixing resulted from their ignorance of some vocabulary or expressions in the target
language (French). Two of the interviewees confirmed that they mixed when they didn‟t
have enough vocabulary about the subjects they discussed. ''I mix English or Arabic when I
speak about difficult subjects that I don’t have enough vocabulary about it, and when I
have difficulty in finding the meaning or in saying the sentence appropriately'' (I. 1. Q.7).
One of the interviews showed that code-mixing may occur because of some
problems that the learners may have in the syntactic level of the sentence in the target
language. The following quotation supported clearly this idea: "I have some linguistic
problems the structure of the sentence and the pronunciation that sometimes lead me to
mispronounce the French vocabulary'' (I. 4. Q.7).
Thus, it has become obvious that such lack of vocabulary items forced the students to
use English and Arabic.
4.3.3 Linguistic Insecurity
According to Nordquist (2014), linguistic insecurity is an old linguistic term used
in 1960s by the American linguist William Labov. It refers to the anxiety or the lack of
confidence experienced by speakers and writers who believe that their use of language
does not conform to the principles and practices of Standard English. During her
observation of the French learners inside the classroom sessions, the researcher
observed that some learners repeated some French words or expressions in Arabic or in
English after being said in French. According to the learners' discussions with their
teachers or with their colleagues inside the classroom sessions, it was clear that the
students repeated those words and expressions because they weren‟t sure if they chose
the appropriate meanings of those words and expressions or not.
During her observation inside the classroom, the researcher got some examples
from the French Minors which clarified their code-mixing of English and Arabic
vocabulary and expressions. The following examples would emphasis the existence of
the previous linguistic phenomenon:
(3) Ils ne sont pas généreux jaʕniː mwʃ kariːmiːn
They are not generous
(4) D'une manière visuelle naːðˤarjah
From a visual side.
In the previous examples, the students spoke the sentence in French, and then, they
translated them into Arabic to confirm understanding the meaning that they wanted as a
result of their linguistic insecurity of French.
The results of the questionnaire showed that (26.2 %) of French Minors mixed
English or Arabic as a result of linguistic insecurity. They emphasized that they mixed
because they were not sure about their linguistic competency and about their vocabulary
of the target language (French). (See table 4, p. 45).
To emphasize the previous phenomenon, the researcher asked the interviewed
learners about their repetition of words and expressions in English or in Arabic. According
to their answers, she noticed that their linguistic insecurity of French led them to English
and Arabic Code-Mixing inside the classroom sessions. When they felt that they were not
sure that they had the appropriate word or expression, they tended to bring its meaning
from English or from Arabic. The Latin origin of English and French led some learners to
mix English, so that they felt safe that they would be less mistaken than if they mixed
Arabic. The flowing response confirmed the previous results. "I prefer to mix English
rather than Arabic, so that the probability to be mistaken could be less when I choose
English word because of their similar origins. As a result, I feel that the English word
could have the similar meaning of that of the French one'' (I. 2. Q.7).
Thus, it has become obvious that such linguistic insecurity forced the students to
use English and Arabic.
4.3.4 No Equivalence of some English or Arabic Expressions in French
During her observation inside the classroom, The researcher observed some
examples that confirm that French learners' code-mixing of some expressions related the
their cultural life. The following examples were taken from the learners during their
classroom discussions:
(4) Hier, J'ai mangé de la makluba.
Yesterday, I ate makluba.
To confirm this idea, the results of the questionnaire showed that (34.4%) of those
French Minors mixed English or Arabic when they were speaking about cultural and
traditional issues which were away from their culture and traditions. They emphasized that
the cultural and the geographic distances between Palestine and the Western Societies
affected their French learning and led them to mix some expressions which were away
from their Palestinian culture and traditions (see table 4, p. 45). Others, mixed political,
environmental, western societies, and foreign subjects that they didn‟t know their
equivalence in French.
The results of the interviews confirmed that the French Minors mixed inside the
classroom because they did not easily find the equivalence of some cultural expressions of
the target language. Their ignorance of the French culture and traditions led them to find
difficulties in finding the meanings of some words and expressions. The students in this
case mixed Arabic in the French sentence. They sometimes felt obliged to mix Arabic or
English words especially in some proverbs to explain the cultural meanings of those
proverbs. ''Culture, sport, politics and Western societies are the domains in which I may
mix English or Arabic because I don’t have enough vocabulary about those subjects'' (I. 3.
Q.7). Other interviewees confirmed that they mixed when they spoke about songs, films,
series, …..etc. ''I mix Arabic when I speak about cultural issues like proverbs that have no
equivalence in French. Sometimes, I use foreign languages like English or French when
speaking about western societies. For example, when speaking about songs, sports, series,
films''. (I. 1. Q.7)
4.3.5 Similarity of Spelling
According to Winkler (2016), 45% of English words have a French origin. Most of
this import of French vocabulary took place after the Norman conquest of England in
1066. As a result, many words in English and French have the same spelling and meaning,
but differ in pronunciation. This linguistic phenomena is called Cognate. Nordquist (2017)
defines cognate to be 'a word that related in origin to another word', such as English
television and French télévision. This type of cognates is called true cognates, while partial
and false cognates were excluded by the researcher in this current study. As it is observed
by the linguists, cognates are often derived from Romance languages (French, Spanish,
Italian) that have their origins in Latin (Vadasy & Nelson, 2012). This similarity led to
English/ French Code-Mixing since the students found it easy to mix the same word even
in different pronunciations instead of being unable to use it correctly. Mixing English/
French was very common in this current study, but mixing Arabic didn‟t show up since
there is no similar spelling. Examples (6) and (7) were observed by the researcher during
the classroom observation and illustrate this type of mixing:
(6) Ce n'est pas əkˈsɛptəbəl
It is not acceptable
(7) La similarité entre les deux définitions
The similarity between the two definitions
The two previous examples illustrate mixing English words that have the same
meaning in English and French and differ in pronunciation. The equivalent of the word
'acceptable' in French is: 'acceptable'. It has the same spelling in the two languages but
differs in pronunciation. The same case is noticed in example (7). The French synonym of
the word ''definitions'' is: 'définitions' which is also has the same meaning and spelling, but
doesn't have the same pronunciation.
When the French Minors at H.U asked if they mixed English words while talking
with their classmates in French sessions, (78.7%) of them answered that they did and
(21.3%) of them answered that they did not (see table 3, p. 44). So, It is expected that
there were some learners among them who mixed because of some similarities of spelling
among the two languages.
Interviews also showed the same results about similarity of spelling and its effect
on their code-mixing of English. As it is mentioned above, some of the interviewees
confirmed that they tried to mix English more than Arabic to be less mistaken since it has
the same Latin origin of that of French. ''Sometimes, I brought the English word and I
pronounce it in French if it has the same orthography, but I try to pronounce it in French''
(I. 2. Q.7). Other answers of the interviewees confirmed that they mixed English more than
Arabic to be less mistaken. (See I. 1, 2, 4. Q.6).
The previous discussion was an explanation to different reasons of English, French
and Arabic Code-Mixing in the current study. The following section will discuss the
universal constraints and the possibility of their application to mixes in data collected for
the current study.
The previous reasons of Arabic/ English mixing are considered to be the answer of
the second research question ''why do learners mix?''.And the following analysis of the
questionnaires will give us more details about other different reasons that led to those
students' mixing inside and outside the classroom.
4.4 Additional Results of the Questionnaire
As it is mentions in chapter Three. A questionnaire was distributed to the 61 French
Minors who were observed by the researcher in their classroom sessions (see Appendix A,
p.28). (78.7 %) of them answered that they mixed English while speaking French; while
(21.3%) of them answered that they did not. In the same section, when the students were
asked if they mixed Arabic (words) while talking with their classmates in French sessions,
(75.4%) of them answered they did and (24.6%) of them answered that they did not.
However, when asked if one , or both , of their parents can speak English, (60.7 %)
answered that their parents can speak English while (39.3 %) of them answered that one or
both of their parents can speak English. (96.7%) of the students' parents cannot speak
French while (3.3%) of them have one of their parents who can speak French. (49.2 %) of
the students felt that it was more comfortable and easy to mix English or Arabic in a
French dialogue while (50.8 %) of them did not feel the same. Table 3 presents these
percentages in details:
Table 3:
French Learners' Answers about (Yes) or (No) Question of the Questionnaire
Questions Yes # No # %
1. Do you mix English words while talking
with your classmates in French sessions ?
48 / (78.7%) 13 / (21.3%) 100%
2. Do you mix Arabic words while talking
with your classmates in French sessions ?
46 / (75.4%) 15 / (24.6%) 100%
3. Can one , or both , of your parents speak
English ?
37 / (60.7%) 24 / (39.9%) 100%
4. Can one , or both , of your parents speak
French ?
2 / (3.3%) 59 / (96.7%) 100%
5. Do you feel it more comfortable and easy to
mix English, Arabic and French in the same
dialogue ?
30 / (49.2%) 31 / (50.8%) 100%
In addition to the lack of vocabulary, no equivalence of some words or expressions,
linguistic insecurity and similarity of spelling, French Minors mentioned other different
situations in which they mixed during their classroom sessions. When the researcher asked
the students to circle the cases in which the students mixed English or Arabic with students
who speak French, (46%) of them mixed to exclude a person who did not understand
English while they were speaking French. Among the 61 French learners who answered
the questions of the questionnaire, (14.8%) of them answered that they mixed languages as
a habit that they acquired through time. However, (14.8%) of them answered that they
mixed at times of happiness and excitement and. (13.1%) of the students mixed in case of
Western societies were being discussed while (8.2%) of them answered that they mixed
when they felt sad and angry. (5%) of the students code-mixed to English or to Arabic if
their speech was a response to someone who started to speak English while they were
talking in French. However, Finally, (3.3%) of the students didn‟t choose any of those
options included in the questionnaire.(See the following table 4)
Table 4:
The Situations in which French Minors Mix English or Arabic with Persons who Speak
French
Situations # subjects %
1 Lack of Vocabulary 55 90.2
2 Linguistic Insecurity 16 26.2
3 Happiness and excitement 9 14.8
4 Sadness and Anger 5 8.2
5 Showing Knowledge 6 9.8
6 Discussing Western Societies 8 13.1
7 Excluding a Person from Conversation 28 46
8 Response to Someone Started Talking in E/Fr 3 5
9 Cultural Issues 21 34.4
10 Habit Through Time 9 14.8
11 Nothing 2 3.3
The above results included other reasons for French Minors' code-mixing in
addition to those were previously discussed by the researcher.
4.5 Additional Outcomes of the Interviews
The researcher in this study supported her research by interviewing some of
French learners at Hebron University. The interviews were done to fulfill the gap the
questionnaire failed to complete. Four French learners were interviewed. Three of them
were females (Dima, Rawan and Sanaa) while one of them is a male (Rami). When those
French minors were asked if one or both of their parents speak French or English, all of
them answered that none of their parents can speak French. Two of them confirmed that at
least one of their parents speaks English while two of them confirmed that both of their
parents speak English well. All of them confirmed that he/she is the only family member
who speaks French after studying it at University.
One of the interviewed learners answered that he did not mix English or Arabic
while speaking French, but when he is speaking English he mixed French, (I. 3. Q.6).
When asked about the reasons, he answered that the French language was more preferable
for him than English. He confirmed that in this case he preferred being corrected directly
with the appropriate French words by his teacher or by his classmates instead of mixing
another language. In this case, he learnt more vocabulary and they avoided mixing
English or Arabic in future. '' I learn more French vocabulary instead of mixing English or
Arabic''. (I. 3. Q.7)
The previous outcome of the interviews could be a summary of the reasons of
Code-Mixing English Arabic among French learners at H.U. Others could be a repetition
of the same reasons of CM which were discussed before.
4.6 Universal Constraints
In this level of this study, the researcher applies what so-called the universal constraints
to examples from the collected data to test their validity in relation to French, English and
Arabic Code-Mixing.
Several studies among the world discussed some universal constraints of Code-Mixed
speech among languages. Atawneh (1992), Poplack (1980), Sridhar (1978), Bokamba
(1989), Seligson (1986), presented several constraints on Code-Mixing. As reported in
Atawneh (1992), those constraints are assumed to apply at the syntactic level, and they
may also extend to the morphological one. Seven universal constraints were discussed in
previous studies and will be applied to this current study's mixes:
1. The size of the constituent constraint
2. The conjunction and the complementizer constraints
3. The adjectival phrase constraint
4. The clitic pronoun constraint
5. The free morpheme constraint
6. The equivalence constraint
7. The dual structure principle
In this section, the researcher will examine the previous constraints in relation to the
data from French, English and Arabic Code-Mixing.
4.6.1 The Size of the Constituent Constraint
Poplack (1980), as reported in Atawneh (1992), states that the higher-level
constituents (phrases, clauses, and sentences) are more frequent mixed than lower-level
constituents (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs). Poplak (1980) states that Code-Mixing
within the sentence means that bilingual has higher bilingual ability and Code-Switching
across sentences means that the bilingual has lower bilingual ability of the target language.
Berk-Seligson refused considering the previous claim of Poplack that Mixing is a measure
of bilingual competency among bilinguals.
A number of recent studies mentioned above showed that nouns and verbs were the
largest number of constituents used in Code-Mixed speech. This frequency violated this
constraint. The current study supports this constraint (See Table 2, p. 32). It shows that the
lower-level constituents are more frequent mixed than higher-level constituents. Nouns,
verbs and adjectives were the largest number of constituents in Code-Mixed speech which
was a contradiction to the constituent constraint mentioned above. As a result, it is clear
that the size of the constituent constraint is not strict to be a universal one on Code-Mixing.
4.6.2 The Conjunction and Complementizer Constraint
This constraint concerns the occurrence of function words in certain structural
contexts in code-mixed speech. Atawneh (1992) reported that Gumperz (1976) and Kachru
(1978) presented that the conjunction between two joined sentences must always be in the
language of the second sentence, and it is possible to be in a different language from the
clause it conjoins. Conjunction constraint disallows the occurrence of a guest language
conjunction in a host language coordinate sentence. Atawneh (1992) supported this
constraint and at the same time violated it by providing some related examples. Examples
(8) and (9), respectively are reported in Atawneh (1992) in which we can find evidences
that support and violate this constraint.
(8) binnam fi-l-leel at ten o'clock and bnisha fissubh bnaakul at nine o'clock.
we get up in the morning to eat breakfast at nine o'clock
(9) kantli't 'amustashfawi-l A Team was on.
you could have gone to the hospital while A Team was on
Bentahila & Davis (1983) supported this constraint and provided some examples of
Arabic French Code Mixing. Example (10) has an Arabic conjunction (w) in the same
language of the second clause and violated it in example (11) where an Arabic conjunction
(wa) ''and'' was used to join two French sentences, respectively.
(10) J'avais faim w xft naikul
'' I was hungry and I was afraid to eat''
(11) Je me rase wla je ne me rase pas.
''I shave or I don't shave''
This study shows that this constraint is not always applicable. Examples (12) and
(13), respectively, provide evidences that go in line with the constraint and others violate
this constraint.
(12) Nous sommes arrivés en retard bɪˈkɒzɒvʃiː
we arrived late because of her.
In the previous example, the conjunction because joins two clauses. The first is
French (the host language), and the second is English (the guest language). The English
conjunction because comes in the language of the second joined clause which is in English
and this could be an evidence to support this constraint.
(13) Tu n' irais pas à la plage unless (ʌnˈlɛs) finir ton travail
You would not go to the beach unless finishing your work
The previous example violates the conjunction constraint. The conjunction unless
isn‟t in the language of the second clause (the guest language). It is an English conjunction
that conjoins tow French clauses (the host language).
As reported in Redouane (2005), Gumperz (1976), however, did not support the
finding that the conjunction can be in different language as the first or second clause by
claiming that the conjunction must always be in the same language as the second clause
when a switch occurs between the two conjoined clauses. Similarly, kachru (1977) in his
study, investigating Hindi-English Code-Switching, states that when a switch occurred
between two clauses, it is impossible that the conjunction be in a different language from
both the clauses it conjoins.
Example (14), ʃariːtˤata ːnnaː is also a conjunction that conjoins two French
clauses. It is not in the same language of the host language nor it is in the guest one.
However, the violation of the conjunction constraint is also clear in this example.
(14) Je vais aller à Amman ʃariːtˤata ːnnaːma belle mère ne vient pas ici
I will go to Amman if my mother in law do not come here.
Complementizers' mixes were not found at all in this current study. So that the
researcher cannot decide the complementizers constraints' validity to the mixes that
occurred in the mixed speech.
4.6.3 The Adjectival Phrase Constraint
This constraint disallows mixing of adjectives and nouns within a Noun Phrase. Pfaff
(1979) states that adjective/noun mixes should respect the word order of both the language
of the adjective and the language of the head noun. Atawneh (1992) presented in his study
some examples of noun phrases where an adjective is followed by a noun from the guest
language, and another example showing a noun following an adjective from the host
language violating this constraint. Examples (15) & (16) illustrate these ideas:
(15) Ɂil-ha nose zyiir
Own-she nose small
''She has a small nose''
(16) haada Ɂahla dinner fihayaati
This is the best dinner in my life.
This current study presents examples of adjective- mixing that respect the noun/
adjective order of the host language which is in this case the French language. Examples
(17) and (18), respectively, present sentences where English adjectives follow French
nouns respecting the noun/adjective order of French:
(17) C'est une decision pɜːsənəl
This is a personal decision
(18) C'est un amour real
This is a love real
''This is a real love''
In the previous examples (17&18), the adjectives come after the nouns. The
position of the mixed adjectives (those in the guest language) respected the word of the
noun-adjectives in the host language. This violates this constraint since the adjective/noun
mixing respected the word order of the host language (French), but didn‟t respect the word
order of the guest language (English).
Other examples of this current study show respect to the order of adjective-noun in
Code-Mixing for both the host language (French) and the guest language (English/
Arabic). Examples (19), (20) & (21) respectively illustrate this validity and respect the
adjectival constraint:
(19) La fin de l'histoire est sæd
The end of the story is sad
(20) les enfants pleurent lorsqu'ils sont hungry (hʌŋɡrɪ).
The children cry because they are hungry
(21) les enfants sont dˤwʕafaːʔ
''The children are weak''
The previous discussion show respect to the adjectival constraint in some examples,
and violation in others. This contradiction proves that this constraint is not universal.
4.6.4 The Clitic Pronoun Object Constraint
As reported in Atawneh (1992), Pfaaf (1979) states that according to this constraint,
clitic pronoun objects are realized of the same language of that of the verb to which they
are cliticized, and in the position specified by the syntactic rules of that language. In the
current study, clitic object pronoun didn‟t exist at all in collected data. This disappearance
does not allow the researcher to decide whether this constraint is valid and Universal or
not. Example (22) illustrates this constraint:
(22) Il l'apris au supermarché.
He took the dog to the market.
It is obvious that the French rule of the direct object is different from that of
English. As it is seen above, the French direct object (l' )is moved to be before the main
verb according to the grammatical rule of French; while the English direct object (the dog)
comes after the verb according to the English grammatical rule of direct object.
4.6.5 The Free Morpheme Constraint
This constraint states that mixing could happen after any constituent in a discourse where
the constituent is not a bound morpheme. Another version states that:''a switch is
prohibited from occurring between a bound morpheme and a lexical form unless the later
has been phonologically integrated into the language of the former'' (Poplack 1982:12).
Atawneh (1992) presented examples that violate this constraint as follows:
(23) Binuse elcomputor
We-use the- computer
(24) Sirna nride together
Become-PST-we we-ride together
we got used to riding together
In this current study the free or bound morphemes didn‟t appear at all in the collected
data. Therefore it cannot be decided whether French for English majors can support or
stand against this constraint.
4.6.6 The Equivalence Constraint
Poplack (1979) states that mixes in this constraint tend to occur in discourse where
the juxtaposition of L1 and L2 elements doesn‟t violate the syntactic rule of the two
languages, and where the surface structure of the two languages map onto each other.
Atawneh (1992) presented some examples that support this constraint and others that
violate it. Example (24) illustrates using the preposition about in a position so that the
word order doesn‟t violate the rules of the other language:
(24) About eeyser-risali?
About what the letter?
What is the letter about?
In this current study, similar examples occurred in which CM didn‟t affect the
syntactic rules of both the host language (French) and the guest language
(Arabic).Example (25) illustrates and supports the validity of this constraint:
(25) On les fait maːʕ ʔiː? verbe?
maːʕ ʔiː verbe on les fait?
We do them with which verb? = ''With which verb we do them?''
In the previous example, the juxtaposition of maːʕ ʔiː didn‟t affect the surface structure and
the syntactic rules of the host language (French) and the guest language (Arabic).
4.6.7 The Dual Structure Principle
This constraint states that the internal structure of the guest constituent doesn‟t
necessarily conform to the constituent structure rules of the host language if its place in the
sentence doesn‟t affect the rules of the host language. All examples of English mixed noun
phrases in Atawneh (1992) have their internal structure unaffected when they fill the place
of a noun phrase in an Arabic sentence, as in (26) & (27):
(26) ilha big nose
Has-she big nose
She has a big nose
(27) btiɁmalu second floor zay heyk.
PRS-you-do second floor like this.
You do second floor like this.
Other examples in Atawneh (1992) violate this constraint as example (28):
(28) haada Ɂilli Ɂana spelleyt-o
This that I-PST-it
this that I spelt
In the previous example, the verb spelt inserted in the Arabic sentence to function
as a past tense verb, and it became spelleyto to match the syllable structure of the Arabic
verb and its pattern. Atawneh (1992) found that there is no lexical gap to be filled by the
English verb (spelt) since Arabic has another verb hazzeyto with the same meaning. The
problem here is that the verb in Arabic carries a pronominal morpheme which agrees with
the subject of the verb unlike its counterpart in English. For this reason, English verbs
mixed in Arabic sentences must take the agreement morpheme, thus changing the internal
morphological structure of the verb and adapting it to the Arabic pattern.
In the current study, two Arabic NPs occur in the collected data in which French is
the host language. Their places violate the structural rules of the host sentence and affected
by the structural word order of the guest language which is Arabic, as in example (29)&
(30), respectively:
(29) L'hypocrisie est une qadˤjja mwʕaqada
L'hypocrisie est une question complexe.
The hypocrisy is a complex case
(30) En raison de ʕadam wdʒuːd la police, les rues sont très anarchistes
En raison de l’absence de la police, les rues sont anarchistes
Because of the absence of the police, the roads are jammed
The previous two examples support this constraint since the internal structure of the
guest constituent qadˤjja mwʕaqada & ʕadam wdʒuːd did not affect the structural rules of
the host sentence (French), and this could be an evidence that this constraint is valid.
The following section will discuss the results of the questionnaires administered to
the subjects of study.
Chapter Five
Conclusion and Recommendations
Because Palestine is a bilingual country where English is a foreign language,
speakers may mix English and Arabic in certain situations. However, with the introduction
of French in Palestinian schools and universities, it has been noticed that there is code-
mixing between French and English besides French and Arabic. There are some reasons
that led to mixing French with English and Arabic with French. This current study
investigated this linguistic area among English Majors who have Minor in French at H.U.
This investigation included CM inside the classroom sessions and excluded CM outside the
classroom where French language is rarely used. The researcher looked at the contexts in
which CM occurred. Reasons for mixing were found to include lack of knowledge,
clarification. Investigation was also made in finding out the possibility of observing the
universal constraints for mixing among the users of the target group.
Analysis in this research was both qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative part
analyzed data the researcher collected by observing the Code-Mixing instances inside the
classroom sessions for 61 French learners at H.U. The instances were then categorized
according to the frequency of the mixed categories. They were discussed according to the
reasons and motives which caused them to be produced. In addition, the questionnaires and
the interviews were analyzed quantitatively.
The findings of this research proved that Code-Mixing among French learners at
H.U was not random. They aimed at achieving specific functions and had their own
motives to do so. The qualitative analysis showed that they aimed at achieving three main
functions and had three main reasons. They aimed at compensating the lack ofknowledge
(lack of vocabulary), emphasizing understanding their teacher, and clarifying or
emphasizing something they want to say. They were motivated by a desire to make a point,
especially when there was no equivalence of some French or English expressions in
Arabic, to show knowledge of the foreign language for prestige, and simply because of
similarity in spelling for some English and French words.
As for the results of the questionnaire, they supported the previous results. The
majority of the French learners admitted that they mixed Arabic or English to compensate
for the lack of vocabulary and when they did not find the suitable expression they needed
in French during sessions. Some of them agreed that they mixed when they responded to
someone who started to speak English while they were speaking French. Others agreed that
they mixed just as a habit that they acquired through time. They also agreed that they
mixed to emphasize their speech and to increase its strength and impact. Excluding a
person who doesn‟t understand English while they were talking French, feeling sad and
angry and showing knowledge of technological and cultural advancement were also other
reasons that motivated those learners to mix other languages. Finally, some of them agreed
that they mixed at times of happiness and excitement and during discussions of Western
issues.
On the other hand, when the French learners at H.U were interviewed, some of
them agreed that they did not mix English or Arabic while speaking French. But when
they spoke English, they mixed French because it was more preferable for them than
English. The interviewed French learners strongly agreed that they mixed Arabic or
English words when they did not find the appropriate item or expression in the target
language (French), so that this could be a support for their answers for the questionnaire.
The French learners' ignorance of the syntactic rules of the Frenchsentences and their
desire to confirm meaning in order to make sure that others understand them. There were
also other reasons that motivated those French learners to mix Arabic or English during
their speech.
This research will hopefully encourage more research on Code-Mixing in EFL/
FFL contexts. It is highly recommended to conduct similar studies, both qualitative and
quantitative, to reveal more about the reasons and the motives that cause Code-Mixing in
such a context. When considering future research, it is suggested that the following points
will be taken into consideration:
1. Studying other aspects of Code-Mixing of those French learners, such as the
phonological and syntactic ones.
2. Studying the aspects of Code-Mixing for the same learners outside the classroom
sessions (on campus), and studying the differences of CM inside and outside the
classroom.
3. Studying the Code-Mixing practices of other Minor French Palestinian learners, (who
have the same level of competency), at other different Palestinian universities and
comparing results.
4. Studying Code-Mixing of French Majors in English and Arabic to compare the
relationship between their linguistic competency in French and the frequency and the
types of mixes.
5. Studying French/ English Code-Mixing in separation from studying French/ Arabic
Code-Mixing, so that the researcher could concentrate more on the syntactic and
morphological aspects of each language during Code-Mixing.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Questionnaire in Arabic
الله الرحمن الرحيمبسم
استبانة
نة هذذذذذذذذذب ثذذذذذذذذذاج تذذذذذذذذذا حذذذذذذذذذة خل ذذذذذذذذذاخة تاث ذذذذذذذذذ ل هذذذذذذذذذ ا خ حذذذذذذذذذة ذذذذذذذذذب ظذذذذذذذذذاهل ذذذذذذذذذط اهذذذذذذذذذ ذذذذذذذذذ
طذذذذذذذذذذذفر خ ذذذذذذذذذذذة خ لن ذذذذذذذذذذذ ة ذذذذذذذذذذذب ثاتاذذذذذذذذذذذة خ ذذذذذذذذذذذ خ ذذذذذذذذذذذة نث ا ذذذذذذذذذذذة خال ذذذذذذذذذذذة نذذذذذذذذذذذاج تحا ذذذذذذذذذذذل ذذذذذذذذذذذب
ق قذذذذذذذذذذة خذذذذذذذذذذ ل ذذذذذذذذذذر تذذذذذذذذذذن ثا ذذذذذذذذذذة 05إخذذذذذذذذذذ 01 ذذذذذذذذذذ ل ذذذذذذذذذذ انة خ ذذذذذذذذذذة خ لن ذذذذذذذذذذ ة ا ذذذذذذذذذذة هذذذذذذذذذذ
ع ذذذذذذذذذذ قذذذذذذذذذذل ح ذذذذذذذذذذ انة ذذذذذذذذذذل حة حل ذذذذذذذذذذة تذذذذذذذذذذ ذذذذذذذذذذ ل ذذذذذذذذذذ ا ع ذذذذذذذذذذ تذذذذذذذذذذا ذذذذذذذذذذ ق ت ن تذذذذذذذذذذا تا تذذذذذذذذذذاح
ث قح
املا البيانات الاتية : (6)
خثنس : خاتل :
ع ن ح ا خ ة خ لن ة :
: خ نة خ ل ة
) لا ( :ضع دائرة حول )نعم ( أو ( 0)
هذذذذذذذذذ ذذذذذذذذذط خ ذذذذذذذذذة نث ا ذذذذذذذذذة ا تذذذذذذذذذاح نذذذذذذذذذاج حذذذذذذذذذ تذذذذذذذذذ اتذذذذذذذذذفج ذذذذذذذذذ ا اخ ذذذذذذذذذة 0
خ لن ة ب تحا ل ح خ ة خ لن ة ؟
نا
هذذذذذذذذذذذ ذذذذذذذذذذذط خ ذذذذذذذذذذذة خال ذذذذذذذذذذذة ا تذذذذذذذذذذذاح نذذذذذذذذذذذاج حذذذذذذذذذذذ تذذذذذذذذذذذ اتذذذذذذذذذذذفج ذذذذذذذذذذذ ا اخ ذذذذذذذذذذذة 2
خ لن ة ب تحا ل ح خ ة خ لن ة؟
نا
نا ط ح خ فهتا خ ح ة اخ ة نث ا ة ؟ه 3
نا ه ط ح خ فهتا خ ح ة اخ ة خ لن ة ؟ 4
هذذذذذذذذذذ ذذذذذذذذذذال ذذذذذذذذذذذ خة ل حذذذذذذذذذذة ذذذذذذذذذذذل عنذذذذذذذذذذ تا ذذذذذذذذذذذط خ ذذذذذذذذذذ ا نث ا ذذذذذذذذذذذة خال ذذذذذذذذذذة عنذذذذذذذذذذذ 5
ثا ة ع ة خ ة خ لن ة ب خ ف ؟
نا
: ضع دائرة حول رقم الجممة الصحيحة بالنسبة لك( 3)
: ة خ لن ة ب خحا ح لآ ة خال ة ت اص ح ا اخ ط خ ة نث ا ة
عن تا ث خ ا ل ختنا ر تا خ ة خ لن ة 0
خ أ ع فتب خا ا ق أ ل 2
عن خ ا ل اخ لح ال 3
عن خ ا ل اخحاا خ ر 4
خ اهب تال ب اخ ة نث ا ة اخ ة خ لن ة ت ال ب ب ت تا 5
عن تا ا خح ة عا ختث تااح خ ل ة 6
ة ناج ح نا اخ ة خ لن ةإ اا فتب ل ع ص اخح ة اخ ة نث ا 7
خ قا ة اض خت ظ ال 8
هب تثل عا ا ت خ قح 9
اا ا إ ل ج ص خ ة نث ا ة ناج ح نا اخ ة خ لن ة 01
احكمممممممم عممممممممى كمممممممل ممممممممن النقممممممماط التاليمممممممة ، بمممممممما يتعممممممممق بخمطمممممممك لمغمممممممة الفرنسمممممممية و الانجميزيمممممممة او ( 2)
ىو الحد الأعمى 5الأدنى و ىو الحد 6، بحيث يكون 5-6العربية ، عمى مقياس من
ق ث ختثا ح
تا
لثة ت ط ق
عاخ ة
لثة عاخ ة
ث
5 4 3 2 0 خ ل ة
5 4 3 2 0 لأ قاج
5 4 3 2 0 لأت ل خاا ة
5 4 3 2 0 لأخاار خ ل ن ة ع خ ن خ ث ا
5 4 3 2 0 خ ل تج خ اا لأ ف
5 4 3 2 0 لأ انب خت ن ا
5 4 3 2 0 لأح ة خااخت ة
Appendix B : Questionnaire in English
In the name of Allah
A Questionnaire
This questionnaire is a part of a Master's degree research which aims at
investigating phenomenon of Code-Mixing of French and English or
Arabic among students of French at Hebron University in their daily
conversations in the classroom. Filling this questionnaire will take 10 to
15 minutes. Therefore, I would like you to respond to its questions
honestly and freely. Thanking you in advance for the information that
you are going to present and for the effort and time that you are going to
spend.
(1) Fill in the following information :
Gender : Age :
Years of learning French :
(2) Circle ( yes ) or ( No ) :
No Yes Do you mix English (words) while talking with your
classmates in French sessions ?
1.
No Yes Do you mix Arabic (words) while talking with your
classmates in French sessions ?
2.
No Yes Can one , or both , of your parents speak English ? 3.
No Yes Can one , or both , of your parents speak French ? 4.
No Yes Do you feel it more comfortable and easy to mix
English, Arabic and French in the same dialogue ?
5.
(3) Circle the number the sentence that is true for you :
I mix English in my conversations with people who are speaking French
in the following situations :
1. When I do not find the suitable word or expression from French .
2. To emphasize my speech and to increase its strength and impact.
3. At times of happiness and excitement.
4. At times of sadness and anger.
5. To show off my knowledge and skills of using English and French.
6. When Western societies are being discussed .
7. If my speech was a response to someone who started to speak
English while we are talking in French .
8. To show some cultural issues.
9. It is just a habit that I acquired through time .
10. To exclude a person who does not understand English while we
are talking French .
(4) Give your judgment on each of the following points in relation to
your mixing of French and English on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the
least and 5 being the most.
Domains Very little or
nonexistent Little Medium
High
Degree
Very High
Degree
Studying 1 2 3 4 5
Friends 1 2 3 4 5
Family matters 1 2 3 4 5
Electronic games and world of
technology 1 2 3 4 5
Movies and TV programs 1 2 3 4 5
Songs and Singers 1 2 3 4 5
Thank you for your cooperation
Appendix C: Questions of Interviews
1. For how many years are you learning French?
2. Did you learn French before University? If yes, for how many years?
3. Do your parents or one of them speak English or French?
4. Have you any family member who speaks French other than you? If
yes, do you speak French with him/ her?
5. In what subjects you mix other languages (French or English)?
6. When do you mix English or Arabic while you are speaking French
inside the classroom sessions?
7. Do you mix English more than Arabic while you are speaking French
or you tend to mix Arabic more than English? Why?
Appendix D: IPA Symbols Used for the Transliteration of the Code-Switching
Instances of the 61 French Learners during Sessions.
Letter Name IPA Letter Name IPA Letter Name IPA
Ha' h ه Shin ʃ ش Hamza ʔ ء
Waw w,uː و Sad sˤ ص Alif aː ا
Ya' j,iː ي Dad dˤ ض Ba' b ب
Alifmaddah أ Ta' tˤ ط Ta' t تʔaː
Ta' marbutah a,at ة Za' ðˤ ظ Tha' θ ث
Alifmaqsurah aː ى ayn ʕ' ع Jim dʒ ج
Alif lam (var) ال Ghayn ɣ غ Ha' ħ ح
Fa' f ف Kha' x خ
Qaf q ق Dal d د
Kaf k ك Dhal ð ذ
Lam l ل Ra' r ر
Mim m م Zany/zay z ز
Nun n ن Sin s س
Appendix E: Phonetic Symbols for English
Consonants
P pen, copy, happen
B back, baby, job
T tea, tight, button
D day, ladder, odd
K key, clock, school
G get, giggle, ghost
tʃ church, match, nature
dʒ judge, age, soldier
F fat, coffee, rough, photo
V view, heavy, move
Θ thing, author, path
Ð this, other, smooth
S soon, cease, sister
Z zero, music, roses, buzz
Vowels
ɪ kit, bid, hymn, minute
E dress, bed, head, many
Æ trap, bad
ɒ lot, odd, wash
ʌ strut, mud, love, blood
ʊ foot, good, put
iː fleece, sea, machine
eɪ face, day, break
aɪ price, high, try
ɔɪ choice, boy
uː goose, two, blue, group
əʊ goat, show, no
aʊ mouth, now
ɪə near, here, weary
ʃ ship, sure, national
ʒ pleasure, vision
H hot, whole, ahead
M more, hammer, sum
N nice, know, funny, sun
Ŋ ring, anger, thanks, sung
L light, valley, feel
R right, wrong, sorry, arrange
J yet, use, beauty, few
W wet, one, when, queen
ʔ (glottal stop)
department, football
eə square. fair, various
ɑː start, father
ɔː thought, law, north, war
ʊə poor, jury, cure
ɜː nurse, stir, learn, refer
ə about, common, standard
I happy, radiate. glorious
U thank you, influence, situation
suddenly, cotton
middle, metal
ˈ (stress mark)
Appendix F:Code-Mixing Instances of the 61 French Minors at H.U
1. C' est une relation illegal (ɪˈliːɡəl)
2. Elle joue une role principile (ˈprɪnsɪpəl ) /(principale)
3. Il y a double s (ˈdʌbəl )/ (double)
4. C' est un pronom relative (ˈrɛlətɪv)
5. C'est une phrase complex (ˈkɒmplɛks)
6. Ce n'est pas acceptable (əkˈsɛptəbəl)
7. C' est une décision personal (ˈpɜːsənəl)
8. Il pense qu' il est respected (rɪˈspɛkted)
9. La fin de l'histoire est sad (sæd )
10. Les enfants pleurent parce qu'ils ont hungry (ˈhʌŋɡrɪ )
11. Le temps est passé très rapid (ˈræpɪd )
12. D' une première naːðˤrah (seen)
13. Les enfants sont dˤwʕafaːʔ(weak)
14. C'est un conseil semantic (sɪˈmæntɪk)
15. Les personnes étaient outcast (sɪˈmæntɪk)
16. Le monde de Simon ne maːnbuːð (outcast)
17. C'est un amour real (ˈrɪəl)
18. Maximum, combien? (ˈmæksɪməm)
19. Elle a vite fait sa valise de craindre d'arriver late (leɪt)
20. C'est a cause de salaries (ˈsælərɪ)
21. C'est un symbole de richness (ˈrɪtʃˌnɪs)
22. Ce qu'est passé a Bruxelle est de faire des muʕaːhadaːt (treaties) ce
qui concerne la Palestine
23. La fume de ʔaːlmasˤaːeʕ (factories )
24. A cause de la guerre, il y a beaucoup de maːsˤaːʕeb (difficulties)
25. L'ecrivan respecte le mot comme paraphrase (ˈpærəˌfreɪz)
26. Pourquoi les étudiants de l'université d'Hébron changent leur
specialist? (ˈspɛʃəlɪst)
27. On les fait maːʕ ʔiː (with which verb) verbe?
28. Le poète présente une chose de maːwaːqef (attitudes) que c'est
passé avec lui.
29. C'est une ʔdˤjhaːd (persecution) des gens
30. Il ya une taʕliːq (suspension) des cours à l'université
31. Quand on voit cette scene? (siːn)
32. ʔltaːʃaːbuh entre les deux définitions
33. Il va avoir la bread (brɛd).
34. Ce n'est pas sˤah (correct) à continuer
35. Il reste deux saːtrjn (lines)
36. C'est déjà une mwlaːxaːsˤ (summary)
37. J'ai une family (ˈfæmɪlɪ)
38. Les enseignants n'acceptent pas le system (ˈsɪstəm) de
gouvernement
39. a description prend une side informative (saɪd)
40. D'une manière naːðˤarjah (theoretical)
41. Madame, c'est naːfshaːle problématique
42. J'espère que le paix spread (sprɛd)
43. Les méthodes modernes came to compléter la lacune des méthodes
anciennes (kʌm)
44. Complete la fonction de lier les deux phrases (freɪzez)
45. Il est important que tu depart (dɪˈpɑːt)
46. Il a pledged de faire ça (plɛdʒ)
47. Il a challenged la situation (ˈtʃælɪndʒd)
48. Pour amuse les autres (əˈsjuːm)
49. Tous le monde est rich (rɪtʃ)
50. Qu'est ce que le printemps jaʕniː pour les enfants
51. Jack complain de son professeur (kəmˈpleɪn)
52. Tout le monde peut jwsˤawwet
53. Pourquoi les Égyptiens ʔjxtaraʕuːle pronom Ismiralda
54. Elle wear beaucoup de vêtements de crainte que d'avoir froid
(wɛə)
55. Il travaille bien pour take son diplôme (teɪk)
56. Les enfants parlent fort pour jadʒðjb l'attention des parents
57. Les sentiments tatalaːʃaː
58. Le poète jatʔaː mal avec les fleurs comme un bon souvenir
59. Les gens il le bjfakruː qu'il n'a pas de papa et n'a pas de maman
60. Parce que c'est le courant de la vie , elle continue (kənˈtɪnjuː)
61. Elle ne voit pas the personne (ðə)
62. Ils ne sont pas généreux jaʕniː mwʃ kariːmiːn
63. Les gens qui janhabuː ʔl θaːrwaːt
64. Combien de temps rah njhkiː
65. It is not supposed d'être normal (ɪtɪznɒtsəˈpəʊzd)
66. Il n'a pas compris ʃuː qasˤdwh
67. jaʕniː qasˤdwh il y a des conjonction
68. L'hypocrisie est une qadˤjja mwʕaqada
69. En raison de ʕadam wdʒuːd de la police, les rues sont très anarchistes
70. Nous sommes arrivé en retard because of she (bɪˈkɒzɒvʃiː)
71. C'est ʕaʃaːnhiːkle romain n'existe pas en Britagne
72. Tu irais à la plage unless finir ton travail (ʌnˈlɛs )
73. Je vais aller à Amman ʃariːtˤataːnnaː ma belle mère ne viennent pas
ici
74. Je vais rencontrer mon amie ʃariːtˤataːnnaː qu'elle m'appelle
75. On va faire le ménage tu nous pays ʃariːtˤataːnnaː qu'elle m'appelle
76. biːhwdʒat elle est malade, elle n'est pas allée à l'université
77. tahtaː ʔdʒbaːr le demande de son père, elle s'est mariée son cousin
78. C'est un extrait de l'enfant de 1922 (ˌnaɪnˈtiːn ˈtwɛntɪ tuː)
79. biːsaːbaːb les prix des appartements, il est difficile de loger à Paris
Appendix G:Transrcription Conventions of Interviewees
(ID S1): First Speaker
(S2): the speaker who speaks secondly
(?) Words spoken with risen intonation
(.) Words spoken with falling intonation
( CAPITAL syllabus) like toMORrow: Emphasis
(.) Brief pause in speech (up to a good half second)
(.1), (.2), (.3) : longer pauses are timed to the nearest second (.1) =1
second, (.2) = 2 seconds,……..etc.
(:) lengthening sounds
(:) Long sounds (approximately 2 seconds or more)
(to to) : Repetition
(joi-joint) : Word fragments
(@) Laughter
<@> Utterances spoken laughingly
(generous)/ company(ies) : word fragments, words or phrases which
cannot be reliably identified.
<LNde> Utterances in languages which are neither English nor the
speaker's first language.
<fast> utterances which are spoken in a particular mode, and are notably
different from the speaker's normal speaking style.
(hh) Noticeable breathing in or out (relatively short)
(hhh) Noticeable breathing in or out (relatively long)
< > speaking noises like (coughs, sneezes, applauds,……etc).
< > non verbal feedback like <nods>, <shakes head>.
< 2> non verbal feedback = 2 seconds, 3= 3 seconds, ……..
[ ] names of people, companies, organizations, institutions, locations,
numbered starting with 1, …… etc.
Appendix H: Answers of Interviews
Interview 1
Date: April 15, 2016
Time: At 11:15 Am
Duration: 5miniutes
ID S1: Q.1) What's your name?
S2: My name's Dima.
S1: Q.2) For how many years are you learning French?
S1: for THREE years (.2)
S1: Q.3) Did you learn French before University? If yes, for how many years?
S2: No, I didn‟t (.1) I JUST learnt it at [Hebron University](:)
S1: Q.4) Do your parents or one of them speak English or French?
S2: Yes (?), I have my faTHer and my HUSband who are WELL in speaking English (:) I
used to send my husband who studied in America in English He is also considered to be a
native native speaker of English (hh) he was born and lived in the US <nodding the head>
NONE of my family members speaks French.
S1: Q.5) Have you any family member who speaks French other than you? If yes, do
you speak French with him/ her?
S2: <@> In fact (hh) there is NO one in my family speaks French (::)
S1: Q.6) Do you mix English more than Arabic while you are speaking French or you
tend to mix Arabic more than English? Why?
S2: (:) It is more confident to me to mix English rather than Arabic (hhh) because I feel
that the English word that I choose could (?) carry the sAMe meaning in French rather
than in Arabic (.3)
S1: Q.7) When do you mix English or Arabic while you are speaking French inside
the classroom sessions? And in what subjects you mix other languages (French or
English)?
S2: (.3) When we speak about difficult subjects that I don‟t have enough vocabulary about
them (hhh) when I have difficulty in finding the meaning or (.2) in saying the sentence
appropriately <cough> (.3) I mix Arabic when I speak about cultural issues like proverbs
that have no equivalence in French. Sometimes, I use foreign languages like English or
French when speaking about western societies (::::) For example, when speaking about
songs (.1) sports (?) series (.2) films (.)
Interview 2:
Date: April 15, 2016
Time: At 11:30 Am
Duration: 5 minutes and a half
ID S1: Q.1)What's your name?
S2: Rawan
S1: Q.2): For how many years are you learning French?
S2: ONLY (?) For three years (.3)
S1: Q.3) Did you learn French before University? If yes, for how many years?
S2: No (:) I (.2) didn‟t.
S1: Q.4) Do your parents or one of them speak English or French?
S2: Yes (.1) my mother speaks English <nodding the head> and my father doesn‟t.
S1: Q.5) Have you any family member who speaks French other than you? If yes, do
you speak French with him/ her?
S2: No NONE of my family members speaks French So, I (?) just speak French at (.1)
[University] (.2) with my colleagues and (.) my teachers.
S1: Q.6) Do you mix English more than Arabic while you are speaking French or you
tend to mix Arabic more than English? Why?
S2: (hhh) I mix English more than Arabic because (.1) I feel that the English word (:)
could have the same meaning of that in French (.2) So (hh) my mistakes could be less than
those (.1) if I mix Arabic words (.3)
S1: Q.7) When do you mix English or Arabic while you are speaking French inside
the classroom sessions? And in what subjects you mix foreign languages (French /
English)?
S2: (hhh) when I don‟t find the meaning in French (.2) I mix English or Arabic when I
don‟t find the suitable word I need in (.) French (hh) sometimes <@> I brought the
English word and I pronounce it in French (.1) if it has the same orthography, but I try to
pronounce it in French (.) I mix English or Arabic when speaking about some political
subjects (hhh) (.4) because I don‟t have enough vocabulary concerns them (.2) (hh) I prefer
to mix English rather than Arabic so that the (the) probability to be mistaken could be less
when I choose English word because of their similar origins (.1) as a result (.) I feel that
the English word could have the similar meaning of that of the French one (hh) I mix
foreign languages when I speak about foreign subjects (.3)
Interview 3:
Date: April 15, 2016
Time: At 11:35 Am
Duration: 3 miniutes and 40 seconds
ID S1: Q.1) What's your name?
S2: My name's Rami (hh)
S1. Q.2) For how many years are you learning French?
S2: (.1) For three (?) years
S1: Q.3) Did you learn French before University? If yes, for how many years?
S:2: No (.2) I DIDn‟t learn French (?) before university
S.1: Q.4) Do your parents or one of them speak English or French?
S2: My father speaks English and my mother <@>doesn‟t (.2) None of them speak French
(hh)
S1: Q.5) Have you any family member who speaks French other than you? If yes, do
you speak French with him/ her?
S2: NO none (?) of my family members speaks (@) French (.2)
S1: Q.6) Do you mix English more than Arabic while you are speaking French or you
tend to mix Arabic more than English? Why?
S2: Usually (.1) I don‟t mix English or Arabic while speaking French but (?) when I (speak
2speak) English I mix French <nodding the head>
S1: Q.7) When do you mix English or Arabic while you are speaking French inside
the classroom sessions? And in what subjects you mix foreign languages (French/
English)?
S2: As a foreign language (hh) I PREfer French rather than English (.2) I <@> wait the
teacher to correct me (.1) to get the meaning in French (hhh) I learn more French
vocabulary instead of mixing English or Arabic (.2) Culture, sport, politics and Western
societies <nodding the head> are the domains in which I may mix English or Arabic (?)
because I don‟t have enough vocabulary about those subjects (.3)
Interview 4:
Date: April 15, 2016
Time: At 11:50 Am
Duration: 4 miniutes
ID S1: Q.1) What's your name?
S2: Sanaa
S1: Q.2) For how many years are you learning French?
S2: ONLY for THree years (.)
S1: Q.3) Did you learn French before University? If yes, for how many years?
S2: No I JUST (?) learn French at (.1) [Hebron University]
S1: Q.4) Do your parents or one of them speak English or French?
S2: My father speaks English and (:) my mother <@> doesn‟t.
S1: Q.5) Have you any family member who speaks French other than you? If yes, do
you speak French with him/ her?
S2: No, none of my family members speaks French. So, I just speak French at University
inside the French classroom sessions.
S1: Q.6) Do you mix English more than Arabic while you are speaking French or you
tend to mix Arabic more than English? Why?
S2: I prefer mixing the other foreign language [English] rather than [Arabic] (.3) there is
NO particular reason for mixing English (hh) and not Arabic
S1: Q.7) When do you mix English or Arabic while you are speaking French inside
the classroom sessions? And in what subjects you mix foreign languages (French/
English)?
S2: I mix [English] or [Arabic] when (.2) I don‟t find the suitable word or meaning in
[French] (hh) on one hand (.1) I have difficulty in finding some political meanings and
expressions (.2) also (.1) I have difficulties in expressions that concern nature and
environment (.1) on the other hand (.1) I have some linguistic problems like (.2) the
structure of the sentence and the (?) pronunciation that sometimes lead me to
mispronounce the French vocabulary (.3) I mix French English when speaking about (.2)
daily famous news at the Internet (hh) news papers (?) televisions and (.2) magazines (hh)
when speaking about (.3) films and songs (?)